EDMONTON — Friends of Medicare and activists within the disability community are returning to the Alberta Legislature today to renew our calls on the UCP government to improve our home care system. In March 2024 this petition was first tabled in the Legislature. More than a year later, our calls for improved home care funding and services in Alberta have remained ignored by this government. As of today, our petition has reached over 37,000 signatures in support, and will be tabled again in the Legislature today following Question Period.

EDMONTON — This afternoon, the government tabled Bill 53: Compassionate Intervention Act, fulfilling their promise to table forced treatment legislation in this legislative session. If passed, it will allow for mandatory treatment orders that remove a patient’s right to consent and permit individuals to be involuntarily confined against their will. The tabled legislation does not address previously raised, legitimate concerns about the serious infringement on the rights of Albertans, nor the considerable evidence that legislation of this type is both dangerous and ineffective.

EDMONTON — Earlier today, the Alberta government announced a new acute care funding model, which involves switching to activity-based funding for surgeries, rather than using global hospital budgeting, essentially moving to a voucher model. This is a concerning shift that will impact Alberta hospital’s budgets.

EDMONTON — A new report commissioned by Friends of Medicare from the Parkland Institute and authored by Rebecca Graff-McRae titled, Access Denied: How the Changing Accessibility of Health Care Services in Alberta Impacts Equity, highlights how reduced capacity and decreased access have resulted in unmet health care needs for Albertans. The report examines these challenges across acute care, primary care, continuing care, as well as mental health and addictions.

EDMONTON — On page 13 of last week’s Budget 2025 Fiscal Plan there is a reference to the change of ownership for Alberta’s hospitals. As of April 1st, the titles for hundreds of health care facilities will be directly under the ownership of the provincial government through Alberta Infrastructure. As one Calgary Herald columnist summed it up over the weekend: “Sell off hospitals? The UCP Budget makes it possible.”

Initial Budget Response from Chris Gallaway, Executive Director of Friends of Medicare:

EDMONTON — “Albertans are worried about accessing the health care they need when they need it. Heading into Budget 2025, we were watching for key investments in public health care including prioritizing action on health care capacity and workforce planning for a growing province. Unfortunately for Albertans, that’s not what we saw in today’s budget.

EDMONTON — Yesterday, in what felt like a desperate ploy to change the channel on the ongoing scandal around surgical procurement allegations, the Premier and the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions pre-empted Budget 2025 with a press conference announcing a massive spending plan of $180 million toward building two “Compassionate Intervention Centres.”

Health care announcements keep being made... but something seems fishy. With all the politicking, real intentions can be hard to parse—That's why we created this decoder. 

Watch out for these words! When the government uses them, what they’re really talking about is their plan to continue privatizing and dismantling our public health care system.

EDMONTON — The 2025 provincial budget will be tabled in the legislature next Thursday, February 27th. Heading into the budget, the provincial government continues to roll out their expensive and chaotic restructuring of public health care in Alberta, while doubling-down on their failing privatization strategies.

EDMONTON — Today, after two weeks of waiting for answers into very serious allegations of government interference in Alberta’s health care contracting procurement process, Premier Danielle Smith and Health Minister Adriana LaGrange finally held a press conference to announce nothing new. There was no information provided as to the timeline or lead for the promised independent third-party review, and the Premier continued to double down on their failed approach to surgical wait times.