Alberta promises billions for health care, but new hospital towers still years away
CBC
As the Alberta government promises to address pressures on hospitals and improve surgical wait times, while also grappling with a deficit budget, there are questions about where it is choosing to spend its money.
The provincial budget, tabled late last month, includes $34.4 billion in total health-care spending.
“We know that too many Albertans are waiting longer than clinically recommended for surgeries and other essential health care,” said Matt Jones, the minister of hospital and surgical health services.
“At the same time, population growth and aging demographics are increasing pressure on our acute-care system.”
Jones highlighted details of the government’s spending plans for acute care at a news conference in Calgary on Tuesday.
If passed, the 2026 provincial budget will include $13.8 billion for operating and expanding hospital and surgical systems, which represents an increase of about $1.7 billion over last year, according to Jones.
That funding will support staffing, surgeries, emergency services, diagnostics and hospital upgrades.
The Alberta government has come under increasing pressure to address crowded hospitals, overwhelmed ERs and ballooning surgical waits.
This year’s budget dedicates $4.9 billion to health infrastructure, which represents a $1.3 billion increase over last year, budget documents state.
The capital funding plan for the Ministry of Hospital and Surgical Health Services (one of four health-related ministries in the province) rings in at $1.4 billion over three years.
“It supports major hospital maintenance and upgrades in both urban and rural areas of the province and includes significant investments in diagnostic imaging, medical device reprocessing, and the purchasing and upgrading of the Emergency Health Services fleet,” the province said in a news release.
The funding includes $315 million for rural and remote hospitals and $63 million (including $50 million in new funding) over two years to plan and develop unfinished and vacant hospital spaces, according to the government.
While the Alberta government has repeatedly promised more hospital beds, the budget reveals a key commitment, outlined in November, is years away from coming to fruition.
As part of its acute care action plan, the province said three new inpatient towers in Edmonton and Calgary would add more than 1,000 beds between the two cities.
As conflict continues across the Middle East, Iranians living in Saskatchewan are worried for their families and friends back home.
For Mark Arendz, competing at the 2026 Paralympics in Milano-Cortina will mark his fifth appearance at the Games, and this one will be especially meaningful.
Scientists who study sleep are warning B.C.'s decision to adopt permanent daylight time could have a negative impact on overall health, especially for children.
Despite being raised in Canada, Negar Amedi says she has felt the impact on her family and community in Iran from the long rule of the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Truck traffic using Huron Church Road to and from the Ambassador Bridge may have to pay a new toll, if the province yields to urging from Windsor's mayor.
Several businesses operating under the Sunterra banner are seeking an appeal of a recent civil court ruling that awarded $35 million to a U.S. lender, which claimed the Alberta firm had engaged in cheque kiting.
Colin and Marty Stephenson received a call this week that left them feeling stressed and betrayed.
Thunder Bay City Council has voted down proposed, temporary changes to the city's transit service.
After years of rumours it would be forced out by a condo development, an iconic Toronto drag bar is setting the record straight.
Standing in front of a pile of bricks and rubble that had been their family business a day earlier, Lola Vidakovic, her sister Iva and their mother Vesna still can't believe the pizza shop is gone.
With 20 different sports and hundreds of youth athletes competing across multiple venues, the Arctic Winter Games needs a huge number of volunteers to be successful.
Confusing advice and on-again-off-again airport closures are complicating the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of foreigners stranded in the conflict zone around the Persian Gulf.
"Red flag" orders were billed as a faster, simpler way to keep Canadian communities safe by temporarily removing legal firearms from the hands of those who might do themselves — or others — harm. They were part of a suite of gun control measures introduced in the wake of 2020's Portapique, N.S., mass shooting, the deadliest in the country's history.