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Alberta

Health Care Update: Province will deliver health services regionally in seven “health corridors”

Published

5 months ago

9 minute read

Ensuring a successfully refocused health system

Alberta’s government continues to make progress refocusing the health care system to ensure all Albertans get the care they need.

Under Alberta’s refocused health care system, four fully integrated provincial health agencies are being created to oversee the priority sectors of primary care, acute care, continuing care, and mental health and addiction. Two of the provincial health agencies, Recovery Alberta and Primary Care Alberta, have been established with input from more than 30,000 health care professionals and Albertans.

Additionally, it was recently announced that Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services Jason Nixon would become the sector minister for the new continuing care provincial health agency. He has now taken on this role and will oversee continuing care as the government works toward standing up the new continuing care agency.

“Refocusing the health care system is a complex process that needs to be done right. We’re committed to taking the time necessary to develop a better health care system for Albertans and the front-line workers who work tirelessly every day to serve their patients.”

Adriana LaGrange, Minister of Health

Acute Care Alberta transition

Acute Care Alberta

Acute care, which includes hospitals, emergency services and surgery care, is a significant part of the health care system, providing critical care to Albertans when they need it most. Alberta’s new acute care provincial health agency, Acute Care Alberta, will become a legal entity in early 2025 and begin operating in spring 2025. As work continues, Alberta’s government is committed to ensuring there are no interruptions to patient care while keeping front-line workers and all Albertans informed and supported.

The new acute care provincial health agency will work directly with service providers to speed up access to high-quality care, reduce wait times and ensure a patient’s journey through the acute care system is efficient and effective.

To support the standing up of Acute Care Alberta, the Acute Care Provincial Health Agency Executive Transition Team has been established. The team includes executive members from Alberta Health and an external special adviser, Dr. Chris Eagle. As a former CEO of Alberta Health Services, Dr. Eagle brings extensive experience in the delivery of acute care services in the province. He will provide valuable insight and expertise that will support the transition of Alberta Health Services from a health authority to a service delivery provider.

Throughout this work, Albertans will continue to access acute care services as they always have, and there will be no impact to front-line health care workers and their continued dedication to delivering health care to Albertans.

Primary Care Alberta now operational

Primary Care Alberta

As of Nov. 18, Primary Care Alberta is a legal entity under the leadership of Kim Simmonds, whose first task is to support the transition of operations by setting the agency’s vision and mission, implementing policies and processes, and developing plans. Simmonds and her leadership team will work closely with existing primary care teams at Alberta Health Services to establish the new agency.

“Every Albertan deserves to have a long-term, trusted connection with a family doctor or health care team. We are ready to work to ensure all Albertans have a primary health care home.”

Kim Simmonds, chief executive officer, Primary Care Alberta

Primary Care Alberta will coordinate and deliver primary health care services across the province, so all Albertans and their families are supported in their day-to-day health needs while avoiding visiting the emergency department and reducing pressures on acute care services.

Integrated approach to health system planning

As part of the refocusing work, Alberta’s government is also taking a new, regional approach to health system planning through seven integrated health corridors.

As a regional grouping within a health care system, a health corridor is designed to reflect how Albertans use health care services in the province based on factors such as travel patterns, access points and local population needs. The corridors consider data related to where Albertans access services and facilities, as well as feedback received during health care refocusing public engagement sessions.

As a result, these corridors will enable an evidence-based approach to planning that will inform decisions about services, workforce and infrastructure across the four new provincial health agencies. This new approach will connect care pathways and support seamless patient journeys throughout the health care system.

“New health care corridors present many opportunities within Alberta’s health care system. Further regionalization of services, in addition to a focus on rural needs and representation, will be essential to ensuring our communities get access to the care they need.”

Kara Westerlund, president, Rural Municipalities of Alberta

Health corridors will ensure Alberta’s government will be better able to determine current gaps in the health care system and inform investments in those areas, including operational dollars and funding for capital projects. Getting a better regional understanding of how the health care system is being used will ensure decision-making processes reflect the changing needs of Albertans.

Upcoming engagement opportunities

Alberta’s government remains committed to maintaining open lines of communication with Albertans as it stands up the new provincial health agencies that will form the backbone of Alberta’s refocused health care system.

The input, experiences and feedback Alberta’s government is gathering are helping to create a more effective and efficient health care system that meets the needs of Albertans today and for generations to come.

All Albertans are invited to participate in upcoming telephone town halls with Health Minister Adriana LaGrange to discuss the ongoing work to refocus the health system. Town halls will take place on:

  • Nov. 19, from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m.
  • Nov. 27, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
  • Nov. 28, from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m.

Albertans can register to participate online.

In addition to telephone town halls, Albertans can provide feedback on the refocused health care system online until Dec. 5.

A second round of in-person public engagement is planned for winter/spring 2025 to share information and receive feedback about refocusing work. Those interested in keeping up to date on the health system refocusing work and new engagement opportunities can sign up for an e-newsletter.

Quick facts

  • Legislative amendments have been implemented to support the transition to the new health care system.
  • To support health service delivery, Alberta Health Services divided the province into five zones: Calgary, Edmonton, south, north and central. The new integrated health system plan will include seven regional health corridors:
    • North-West
    • North-East
    • Edmonton
    • Central
    • Calgary
    • South-West
    • South-East

Related information

Related Topics:

This is a news release from the Government of Alberta.

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Premier Danielle Smith hints Alberta may begin ‘path’ toward greater autonomy after Mark Carney’s win

Published on April 30, 2025

By

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Alberta’s premier said her government will be holding a special caucus meeting on Friday to discuss Alberta’s independence.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith hinted her province could soon consider taking serious steps toward greater autonomy from Canada in light of Mark Carney and the Liberal Party winning yesterday’s federal election.

In a statement posted to her social media channels today, Smith, who is head of Alberta’s governing United Conservative Party, warned that “In the weeks and months ahead, Albertans will have an opportunity to discuss our province’s future, assess various options for strengthening and protecting our province against future hostile acts from Ottawa, and to ultimately choose a path forward.”

“As Premier, I will facilitate and lead this discussion and process with the sincere hope of securing a prosperous future for our province within a united Canada that respects our province’s constitutional rights, facilitates rather than blocks the development and export of our abundant resources, and treats us as a valued and respected partner within confederation,” she noted.

While Smith stopped short of saying that Alberta would consider triggering a referendum on independence from Canada, she did say her government will be holding a “special caucus meeting this Friday to discuss this matter further.”

“I will have more to say after that meeting is concluded,” she noted.

Smith’s warning comes at the same time some pre-election polls have shown Alberta’s independence from Canada sentiment at just over 30 percent.

Monday’s election saw Liberal leader Mark Carney beat out Conservative rival Pierre Poilievre, who also lost his seat. The Conservatives managed to pick up over 20 new seats, however, and Poilievre has vowed to stay on as party leader, for now.

In Alberta, almost all of the seats save two at press time went to conservatives.

Carney, like former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau before him, said he is opposed to new pipeline projects that would allow Alberta oil and gas to be unleashed. Also, his green agenda, like Trudeau’s, is at odds with Alberta’s main economic driver, its oil and gas industry.

The Carney government has also pledged to mandate that all new cars and trucks by 2035 be electric, effectively banning the sale of new gasoline- or diesel-only powered vehicles after that year.

The reduction and eventual elimination of the use of so-called “fossil fuels” and a transition to unreliable “green” energy has also been pushed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) – the globalist group behind the socialist “Great Reset” agenda – an organization in which Trudeau and some of his cabinet are involved.

Smith: ‘I will not permit the status quo to continue’

In her statement, Smith noted that she invited Carney to “immediately commence working with our government to reset the relationship between Ottawa and Alberta with meaningful action rather than hollow rhetoric.”

She noted that a large majority of Albertans are “deeply frustrated that the same government that overtly attacked our provincial economy almost unabated for the past 10 years has been returned to government.”

Smith then promised that she would “not permit the status quo to continue.”

“Albertans are proud Canadians that want this nation to be strong, prosperous, and united, but we will no longer tolerate having our industries threatened and our resources landlocked by Ottawa,” she said.

Smith praised Poilievre for empowering “Albertans and our energy sector as a cornerstone of his campaign.”

Smith was against forced COVID jabs, and her United Conservative government has in recent months banned men from competing in women’s sports and passed a bill banning so-called “top and bottom” surgeries for minors as well as other extreme forms of transgender ideology.

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Alberta

Hours after Liberal election win, Alberta Prosperity Project drumming up interest in referendum

Published on April 29, 2025

By

News release from the Alberta Prosperity Project

Carney’s In. Now what?

You’ve been paying attention. You understand this is really bad. Worse than that, it’s dangerous. The country has somehow chosen several more years of a decade-long Trudeau Travesty…on steroids. Because this new Prime Minister has a three digit IQ, deep and questionable connections and a momentum to accelerate the further dis-integration of a nation we all once proudly belonged to. It’s untrue to say the country is dying. But it’s also not a stretch to say it’s on life support.

The era of Carney Carnage is here. While every province will experience it, there’s no secret he’s placed an extra big bulls-eye on Alberta.

It’s not personal, it’s financial.

His plan includes continuing to limit three of Alberta’s most prosperous sectors: energy, agriculture and, by extension, innovation. To acknowledge this requires we abandon our sense of romanticized national nostalgia. Nostalgia is a trap that prevents us from assessing the reality we exist in.

For instance, GDP is considered the financial heartbeat of a country. Over the past decade of Liberal Leadership, the national GDP has been an abysmal 1.1%. By relatable comparison, Mexico was 4%, the UK was 6%, Australia had 8% growth and the US was a whopping 19%.

That’s great information for an economist, but what does it mean to your pay cheque?

The everyday impact on the average Albertan —say, a teacher or mechanic— of 10 long years of 1% GDP means rent’s up at least 25%, a trip to the grocery store always stings, and driving an older car is the norm because an upgrade is out of reach. Does this sound like your reality?

We aren’t starving, but we’re not thriving, either.

Does this make sense for 4.5 million people living with the third most abundant energy deposits in the world? There’s an absurdity to the situation Albertans find themselves in. It’s akin to being chronically dehydrated while having a fresh water spring in the backyard.

The life you’ve invested for, the future you believed was ahead, isn’t happening.

If Alberta stays on this path.

So what can you, as an Albertan, do about it?

This Fall, we’ll be provided an opportunity. A life raft in the form of a referendum. It requires curiosity, imagination and courage to step into it, but the option will be there — a once in a lifetime shot at prosperity for you and your family: Alberta Sovereignty.

A successful bid means Albertans can finally paddle out of the perilous economic current that’s battered us for ten long years.

Alberta has the resources, talent and spirit of collaboration to create a prosperous future for our families and communities.
If you want your vote to finally mean something, if you feel you deserve more from your pay-cheque, grocery store visits and  need greater control over your family’s future, register your intent to sign YES to sovereignty now.

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

Click here to see all upcoming APP events.

WHAT CAN ALBERTANS DO?

Register Your Intent To Vote “YES”
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