Alberta
Alberta’s move to ‘activity-based funding’ will improve health care despite naysayer claims
From the Fraser Institute
After the Smith government recently announced its shift to a new approach for funding hospitals, known as “activity-based funding” (ABF), defenders of the status quo in Alberta were quick to argue ABF will not improve health care in the province. Their claims are simply incorrect. In reality, based on the experiences of other better-performing universal health-care systems, ABF will help reduce wait times for Alberta patients and provide better value-for-money for taxpayers.
First, it’s important to understand Alberta is not breaking new ground with this approach. Other developed countries shifted to the ABF model starting in the early 1990s.
Indeed, after years of paying their hospitals a lump-sum annual budget for surgical care (like Alberta currently), other countries with universal health care recognized this form of payment encouraged hospitals to deliver fewer services by turning each patient into a cost to be minimized. The shift to ABF, which compensates hospitals for the actual services they provide, flips the script—hospitals in these countries now see patients as a source of revenue.
In fact, in many universal health-care countries, these reforms began so long ago that some are now on their second or even third generation of ABF, incorporating further innovations to encourage an even greater focus on quality.
For example, in Sweden in the early 1990s, counties that embraced ABF enjoyed a potential cost savings of 13 per cent over non-reforming counties that stuck with budgets. In Stockholm, one study measured an 11 per cent increase in hospital activity overall alongside a 1 per cent decrease in costs following the introduction of ABF. Moreover, according to the study, ABF did not reduce access for older patients or patients with more complex conditions. In England, the shift to ABF in the early to mid-2000s helped increase hospital activity and reduce the cost of care per patient, also without negatively affecting quality of care.
Multi-national studies on the shift to ABF have repeatedly shown increases in the volume of care provided, reduced costs per admission, and (perhaps most importantly for Albertans) shorter wait times. Studies have also shown ABF may lead to improved quality and access to advanced medical technology for patients.
Clearly, the naysayers who claim that ABF is some sort of new or untested reform, or that Albertans are heading down an unknown path with unmanageable and unexpected risks, are at the very least uninformed.
And what of those theoretical drawbacks?
Some critics claim that ABF may encourage faster discharges of patients to reduce costs. But they fail to note this theoretical drawback also exists under the current system where discharging higher-cost patients earlier can reduce the drain on hospital budgets. And crucially, other countries have implemented policies to prevent these types of theoretical drawbacks under ABF, which can inform Alberta’s approach from the start.
Critics also argue that competition between private clinics, or even between clinics and hospitals, is somehow a bad thing. But all of the developed world’s top performing universal health-care systems, with the best outcomes and shortest wait times, include a blend of both public and private care. No one has done it with the naysayers’ fixation on government provision.
And finally, some critics claim that, under ABF, private clinics will simply focus on less-complex procedures for less-complex patients to achieve greater profit, leaving public hospitals to perform more complex and thus costly surgeries. But in fact, private clinics alleviate pressure on the public system, allowing hospitals to dedicate their sophisticated resources to complex cases. To be sure, the government must ensure that complex procedures—no matter where they are performed—must always receive appropriate levels of funding and similarly that less-complex procedures are also appropriately funded. But again, the vast and lengthy experience with ABF in other universal health-care countries can help inform Alberta’s approach, which could then serve as an example for other provinces.
Alberta’s health-care system simply does not deliver for patients, with its painfully long wait times and poor access to physicians and services—despite its massive price tag. With its planned shift to activity-based funding, the province has embarked on a path to better health care, despite any false claims from the naysayers. Now it’s crucial for the Smith government to learn from the experiences of others and get this critical reform right.
Nadeem Esmail
Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute
From ALERT – The Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team
Five suspects have now been charged in relation to a major cocaine seizure that took place in Edmonton last year. In April 2024 $3 million worth of cocaine and other drugs was seized.
ALERT Edmonton’s organized crime team, in consultation with Alberta Crown Prosecution Service, was able to arrest and lay charges against five suspects on April 21, 2025. The charges are wide-ranging and include participation in the activities of a criminal organization, conspiracy to traffic drugs, drug trafficking, and money laundering.
“Following last year’s drug seizure, our investigative team was able to conduct a thorough investigation and identify the suspects responsible. We now have significant charges put before the courts in the hopes of holding this organized crime group accountable,” said Insp. Angela Kemp, ALERT Edmonton.
The drug seizure was initially announced by ALERT on May 6, 2024. At 27 kilograms of cocaine, it was highlighted as the largest cocaine seizure by ALERT in Edmonton.
The seizure took place on April 30, 2024 when a search warrant was executed at a west Edmonton home in the Lewis Estates neighbourhood.
ALERT alleges that the suspects are part of an organized crime group that was involved in drug trafficking in the Edmonton region, and had also supplied drugs to Grande Prairie and Saskatchewan. ALERT received assistance on the investigation by the Edmonton Police Service and RCMP Federal Policing Northwest Region.
The following suspects were charged:
- Jeffrey Vil, a 45-year-old from Edmonton, is charged with participation in activities of a criminal organization, commission of an offence for a criminal organization, conspiracy to traffic drugs, conspiracy to possess drugs for the purpose of trafficking, possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking, laundering proceeds of crime, possession of proceeds of crime, and possession of a prohibited device.
- Tommy Szeto, a 35-year-old from Edmonton, is charged with participation in activities of a criminal organization, commission of an offence for a criminal organization, conspiracy to traffic drugs, conspiracy to possess drugs for the purpose of trafficking, possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking, and laundering proceeds of crime.
- Tayler Fraser, a 27-year-old from Edmonton, is charged with is charged with participation in activities of a criminal organization, commission of an offence for a criminal organization, conspiracy to traffic drugs, and conspiracy to possess drugs for the purpose of trafficking.
- Christian Barwise, a 35-year-old from Edmonton, is charged with drug trafficking.
- Adrian De Guzman, a 27-year-old from Edmonton, is charged with drug trafficking.
The suspects were released from custody and are scheduled to appear in court on May 22, 2025.
Members of the public who suspect drug or gang activity in their community can call local police, or contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). Crime Stoppers is always anonymous.
ALERT was established and is funded by the Alberta Government and is a compilation of the province’s most sophisticated law enforcement resources committed to tackling serious and organized crime.
From the Canadian Energy Centre
By Will Gibson
‘Much of the habitat across the region is in good condition’
The footprint of energy development continues to occupy less than three per cent of Alberta’s oil sands region, according to a report by the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI).
As of 2021, energy projects impacted just 2.6 per cent of the oil sands region, which encompasses about 142,000 square kilometers of boreal forest in northern Alberta, an area nearly the size of Montana.
“There’s a mistaken perception that the oil sands region is one big strip mine and that’s simply not the case,” said David Roberts, director of the institute’s science centre.
“The energy footprint is very small in total area once you zoom out to the boreal forest surrounding this development.”
Between 2000 and 2021, the total human footprint in the oil sands region (including energy, agriculture, forestry and municipal uses) increased from 12.0 to 16.5 per cent.
At the same time, energy footprint increased from 1.4 to 2.6 per cent – all while oil sands production surged from 667,000 to 3.3 million barrels per day, according to the Alberta Energy Regulator.
The ABMI’s report is based on data from 328 monitoring sites across the Athabasca, Cold Lake and Peace River oil sands regions. Much of the region’s oil and gas development is concentrated in a 4,800-square-kilometre zone north of Fort McMurray.
“In general, the effects of energy footprint on habitat suitability at the regional scale were small…for most species because energy footprint occupies a small total area in the oil sands region,” the report says.
Researchers recorded species that were present and measured a variety of habitat characteristics.
The status and trend of human footprint and habitat were monitored using fine-resolution imagery, light detection and ranging data as well as satellite images.
This data was used to identify relationships between human land use, habitat and population of species.
The report found that as of 2021, about 95 per cent of native aquatic and wetland habitat in the region was undisturbed while about 77 per cent of terrestrial habitat was undisturbed.
Researchers measured the intactness of the region’s 719 plant, insect and animal species at 87 per cent, which the report states “means much of the habitat across the region is in good condition.”
While the overall picture is positive, Roberts said the report highlights the need for ongoing attention to vegetation regeneration on seismic lines along with the management of impacts to species such as Woodland Caribou.
The ABMI has partnered with Indigenous communities in the region to monitor species of cultural importance. This includes a project with the Lakeland Métis Nation on a study tracking moose occupancy around in situ oil sands operations in traditional hunting areas.
“This study combines traditional Métis insights from knowledge holders with western scientific methods for data collection and analysis,” Roberts said.
The institute also works with oil sands companies, a relationship that Roberts sees as having real value.
“When you are trying to look at the impacts of industrial operations and trends in industry, not having those people at the table means you are blind and don’t have all the information,” Roberts says.
The report was commissioned by Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance, the research arm of Pathways Alliance, a consortium of the six largest oil sands producers.
“We tried to look around when we were asked to put together this report to see if there was a template but there was nothing, at least nothing from a jurisdiction with significant oil and gas activity,” Roberts said.
“There’s a remarkable level of analysis because of how much data we were able to gather.”
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