EDMONTON — Every October 1 is recognized as the International Day of Older Persons. This year’s theme is The Age of Longevity: Rethinking Systems for Longer Lives. Today, Friends of Medicare are renewing our calls for the provincial government to rethink our continuing care and home care systems by implementing long-overdue improvements to meet the needs of the growing population requiring these crucial health care services.

EDMONTON — Two costly changes to the Alberta Health Care Insurance Act take effect on October 1, due to Bill 11 (the Health Statutes Amendment Act, 2025, no. 2).

EDMONTON — Last night, NDP candidate Kyle Campbell surprised many by winning the provincial by-election in South Calgary constituency of Calgary-Shaw. Most recently held by former UCP cabinet minister Rebecca Schulz, many political watchers considered the constituency a safe conservative riding.

EDMONTON — Prime Minister Carney, his Cabinet Ministers, and secretaries of State will all be meeting in Banff, Alberta tomorrow and Friday for their Cabinet Planning Forum. Unfortunately, protecting and strengthening public health care continues to be absent from the federal government’s agenda as they prepare to head back into the House of Commons later this month.

EDMONTON — Across the country today, health coalitions, allied organizations, and concerned individuals are coming together in a National Day of Action to demand urgent federal action to enforce the Canada Health Act to protect patients and our health care systems against the imposition of two-tier, American-style health care.

EDMONTON — Each year, August 31 marks International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD). It is an opportunity to mourn those we have lost, and to refocus our collective work to end overdose and tackle the toxic drug poisoning crisis in our communities. This year’s theme is “25 Years On. Still Needed.”

EDMONTON — A new Abacus Data poll commissioned by the Canadian Health Coalition was released this week, showing that Albertans overwhelmingly reject Bill 11, Alberta’s two-tier American-style health care legislation, with 86% of Albertans believing that universal health care based on need, not how much money they have, is a core Canadian value. Of their top concerns with the legislation, 84% report that they worry Bill 11 will raise health care costs for patients, and 83% worry it will worsen wait times. Findings are similar across Canada.

EDMONTON — As reported by the Investigative Journalism Foundation, staff of Henwood Treatment Centre—Edmonton’s largest public voluntary addiction treatment facility—have been abruptly informed by Recovery Alberta that the centre’s 62 residential treatment beds have been permanently shuttered.

EDMONTON — Bargaining is ongoing at a number of AgeCare continuing care facilities in Alberta, where staff have not had a contract since 2022. The union representing these workers, the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, has issued a formal complaint over bargaining delays, and has reported the employer has offered meager wage increases of just 1% over four years. They also report that there exist “significant disparities” in benefit levels between AgeCare, a for-profit continuing care operator, and Alberta’s publicly-operated Alberta Health Services (AHS) and Carewest.

EDMONTON — Private, for-profit plasma collector Grifols has announced they are temporarily pausing blood plasma collection at all of its donation centres across Canada, including collection sites here in Alberta. This news came after months of public scrutiny on the company’s operations following the deaths of two individuals who sold their plasma at a Grifols site in Winnipeg.