LFES’s legacy now being threatened
By Lethbridge Herald on March 27, 2026.
Dear editor,
For over a century, Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services (LFES)has set the global standard for integrated emergency care. Today, that legacy is under direct and unacceptable threat.
The Province, through EHS-Alberta, has issued the City a deadline of May 30, 2026: accept a cut-rate contract or be forced into a competitive bidding process. Let’s be clear about what this is — an ultimatum that puts public safety on the auction block.
This approach ignores the facts. It ignores our industry-leading cardiac survival rates. It ignores a system that is studied nationwide as the gold standard. And it ignores the highly trained firefighter-paramedics who deliver that level of care every single day. Our men and women who call this city home.
Emergency medical services are not a business opportunity. They are an essential public service. Moving to a for-profit, lowest-bidder model does not “innovate” care — it risks lowering it. It introduces profit margins into life-and-death decisions and undermines the Advanced Care standard our community currently relies on without question.
Our integrated Fire + EMS model is not a luxury — it is the reason gaps are filled before they become tragedies. When an ambulance is unavailable, a fire crew with paramedic training responds. A private contractor cannot replicate that level of seamless backup. The result will be longer response times, increased red alerts, and avoidable loss of life.
Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services has served this community continuously since 1912. You are now being asked to stand by while that proven, life-saving system is dismantled — not because it has failed, but because it refuses to fit into a cheaper, profit-driven model.
This is not a negotiation. It is coercion.
We are calling on you to reject this ultimatum and defend the integrity of emergency services in Lethbridge. Our system is not broken. It is not inefficient. And it is not for sale.
We expect leadership that prioritizes lives over margins, and partnership over threats.
The people on the front lines see what is at stake. Now we need you to act accordingly.
Meagan Gardin, Lethbridge County
Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services
Local 237 member
15-14
Support LFES, put up a sign. Stop the UCP tyranny