Friends of Medicare calls on Albertans to push back against two-tiered system

By Lethbridge Herald on November 21, 2025.

Alexandra Noad
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A confidential draft legislation obtained by the Globe and Mail outlines plans by the Alberta Government to bring two-tier health care to Alberta by allowing physicians to simultaneously work in the private and public sectors.

Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare, says Albertans only have to look at Quebec’s health care system to know that this plan isn’t going to work.

“They have the highest percentage of doctors who opt out of the public system, it’s been a growing problem there and their wait times for the public system have gone up and up as folks in Quebec struggle to access a doctor.”

With more than 800,000 Albertans without a doctor, Gallaway believes a two-tiered system is going to make wait times excruciatingly long.

Earlier this week, AUPE health care workers announced a strike notice and Gallaway says the government’s focus is on the wrong things when it comes to fixing the health care system.

“What we actually need is a workforce plan with retention, recruitment and training solutions that ensures everyone has access to doctors and healthcare workers.

Gallaway says there has been no consultation with the Canadian Medical Association and other frontline workers and goes against what they ran on during their election.

“(The UCP) ran on a public healthcare guarantee, yet since being re-elected, they’ve been implementing more and more privatization and more and more ways people have to pay out of pocket.”

In 2006, former premier Ralph Klein introduced a similar bill, “The New Way,” which he later backed down on due to push back from the public. Gallaway is encouraging those who disagree with the legislation to call up their MLA.

“When (Klein) was premier he tried to pass a two-tiered system and the backlash from Albertans meant that he backed off because he realized it was not politically popular, so this is the moment to do that, the government’s plan is out there and this is our moment to push back.”