Province announces next step to revamped health care system

Setting the foundation for a refocused health system

Proposed legislation would support the refocusing of Alberta’s health care system to ensure Albertans get the care they need when and where they need it.

On Nov. 8, 2023, Alberta’s government announced plans for a refocused health care system to ensure patients are receiving the care they need, when and where they need it. To achieve this, Alberta’s government will be creating four new organizations, one for each priority health services sector: acute care, primary care, continuing care and mental health and addiction.

If passed, the Health Statutes Amendment Act would enable the government to take the necessary next steps to refocus the province’s health care system. The legislation would ensure Albertans have a system that works for them by prioritizing their need to find a primary care provider, receive urgent care without long waits, have access to the best continuing care options and obtain excellent mental health and addiction treatment.

“We are taking another step toward improving health care by updating legislation and enabling the governance and oversight required to refocus the health system. The critical improvements to transparency and accountability will help support the successful refocusing of the health care system to one that is responsive, effective and reflects the needs and priorities of Albertans today and for future generations.”

Adriana LaGrange, Minister of Health

The Health Statutes Amendment Act will enable the transition from one regional health authority, Alberta Health Services, to an integrated system of four sector-based provincial health agencies including primary care, acute care, continuing care and mental health and addiction. The agencies will be responsible for delivering integrated health services, ensuring Albertans receive timely access to care, regardless of where they live.

The Health Statutes Amendment Act establishes roles for an oversight minister and sector minister. The Minister of Health will take on the role of oversight minister, responsible for setting the strategic direction of the overall health system. A sector minister will be responsible for a specific health services sector. For example, the sector minister for Recovery Alberta is the Minister of Mental Health and Addiction. On the recommendation of the oversight minister, additional health service sectors may be established and designate a minister responsible for that newly created sector.

Enhanced government oversight will help Alberta’s government to better direct resources to the front lines where they are needed the most, improve patient care overall and support health care professionals.

“Mental health and addiction have been growing issues within our society and need to be prioritized within our health care system. Amid an addiction crisis, a refocused health system will allow for mental health and addiction services to get the attention, oversight and focus they need. Recovery Alberta would allow for improved mental health and addiction care across the province as an important part of an integrated health system.”

Dan Williams, Minister of Mental Health and Addiction

“Refocusing Alberta’s healthcare system is a crucial step towards ensuring that we can deliver a framework that prioritizes accessibility, accountability, and patient-centered care. By streamlining operations, improving oversight and fostering collaboration, we are setting a strong foundation for a healthcare system that is better equipped to address the diverse needs of each of our communities.”

Jason Nixon, Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services

The legislation will enable the minister of health to transfer employees or classes of employees from AHS to the new sector-based organizations, once established. During the transition period, AHS will be enabled to continue operating as a regional health authority. Employee transfers will be seamless, maintaining existing bargaining relationships and collective agreements. This will ensure stability for the workforce, unions and government as the health system refocus is implemented. There will be no job losses for staff who transition into the new organizations.

Amendments to be made to existing legislation

The Health Statutes Amendment Act includes amendments to the Regional Health Authorities Act and the Health Information Act, which have not been updated since the 1990s.

As part of these amendments, the name of the Regional Health Authorities Act will change to the Provincial Health Agencies Act. The amended Provincial Health Agencies Act will remove outdated references to allow the transition from a single regional health authority to a unified, sector-specific provincial health system. This will clarify the scope and accountabilities of provincial health agencies and health service providers going forward.

The amendments will also place responsibility on the provincial health agencies for operational planning and oversight of clinical service delivery across the province. This will enable provincial health agencies to set priorities in the provision of health service delivery. The agencies will also be tasked with sharing information and collaborating closely to support seamless patient care as the transition to the refocused health care system takes place.

Alberta’s government is committed to ensuring that patient information continues to remain safe and secure through this transition. Amendments to the Health Information Act will be introduced to support the new health system refocus and to support the establishment of the Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence. These amendments will allow the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction, the four new provincial health agencies, the Health Quality Council of Alberta and Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence to have the authority to use health information for health system purposes.

If passed, the Health Statutes Amendment Act will enable Recovery Alberta, the mental health and addiction provincial health agency, to begin operating in the summer of 2024. The primary care, acute care and continuing care provincial health agencies are expected to be established in the fall.

Quick facts

Consequential amendments are changes made to existing legislation due to new legislation being passed. These amendments are necessary to ensure legislative alignment with the proposed amendments to the Regional Health Authorities Act.
- To support the Regional Health Authorities Act amendments and ensure alignment, 43 other acts are being consequentially amended – for example, to replace references to “regional health authority” with “provincial health agency” where necessary.
AHS will remain a key provider of health services, and in fall 2024 will transition to focusing on the provision of acute care services.
Alberta’s government introduced the Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence Act which, if passed, will establish the Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence (CoRE) as a public agency that would support the Government of Alberta, including Mental Health and Addiction, and Recovery Alberta in advancing the Alberta Recovery Model.

Related information

Province orders School Boards to gather data on class sizes and complexity by Nov 24

Published on October 31, 2025

Government of Alberta

Better data, better outcomes for Alberta students

To help schools address classroom complexity, Alberta’s government will begin collecting annual data on class size and composition.

Over the past three years, Alberta has welcomed more than 80,000 new students. With this unprecedented growth, classroom complexity and class sizes are among the biggest issues facing schools and teachers across the province.

To meet this challenge head on, Alberta’s government will work with school boards to gather yearly data on class sizes and composition. This information will be used to better understand staffing, student needs and classroom complexity. School boards will be required to submit data on Alberta classrooms by Nov. 24, and by January, this data will be made publicly available and will then be released annually.

Data collected on classroom complexity will help the province understand and address issues in schools, including class sizes, and support strategic investments in classrooms. Over the next three years, school boards will be provided with funding to hire 3,000 teachers and 1,500 new education assistants to support students with complex needs.

“We are ready to work with school boards and teachers to address classroom complexity and class sizes. We have heard them loud and clear and we are taking bold action to address these issues.”

Demetrios Nicolaides, Minister of Education and Childcare

Alberta’s government is establishing a Class Size and Complexity Task Force to begin work immediately on identifying solutions to the challenges facing Alberta classrooms. Alongside new annual data collection, the task force will ensure every student gets the attention and support they need to succeed. Details about the task force will be shared in the coming weeks.

“This data will provide essential insight into classroom realities, guiding evidence-based decisions and advocating for sustainable funding to address complexity, ensuring every student and educator in Alberta has the support to thrive.”

Mike McMann, College of Alberta School Superintendents

Quick facts

To inform decisions on addressing classroom complexity, data will be collected on total numbers of:

all staff, per school, including roles
substitute teachers
district staff, listed by job title
students, per classroom, per school
severe, mild/moderate, and gifted/talented students, per classroom, per school
English as an additional language (EAL) students, per classroom, per school
refugee students, per classroom, per school
First Nations, Métis and Inuit students, per classroom, per school
Individualized Program Plans, per classroom, per school
students waitlisted for assessment, per classroom, per school
incidents of aggression and violence

$55 million was provided in Budget 2025 to address classroom complexity.
8.6 billion is being invested to build and renovate more than 130 schools across the province.
Budget 2025 is investing $1.6 billion in learning support funding to help meet students’ specialized learning needs.
Budget 2025 is investing $1.1 billion to hire more than 4,000 teachers and educational staff.

Alberta

How one major media torqued its coverage – in the take no prisoners words of a former Alberta premier

Published on October 30, 2025

Todayville

Frame grab from CTV News website

The Rewrite

(Editor’s note: I was going to write on the media’s handling of the Alberta government’s decision to order striking teachers back to work and invoke Section 33 of the Charter in doing so. But former Alberta premier Jason Kenney provided such a fulsome dissection of an absence of balance and its consequences in terms of public trust on X that I asked him if The Rewrite could publish it. He said yes and here it is – Peter Menzies.)

By Jason Kenney

This”story” is an object lesson for why trust in legacy media has plummeted, and alt right media audiences have grown.

Here CTV “digital news producer” @AngeMAmato (she/her) writes a story about “experts” calling the use of Sec. 33 “a threat to democracy.”

Who are the experts?

A left wing academic, and a left wing activist. The latter, Howard Sapers, is a former Liberal MLA (which the article does not mention) for a party that is so marginal, it has not elected an MLA in over a decade.

For good measure CTV goes on to quote two left wing union bosses, who of course are predictably outraged.

A more accurate headline would be “Four people on the left angry about use of Notwithstanding Clause.” Which is the opposite of news. It’s the ultimate “Dog Bites Man” non-story.

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Did the CTV producer make any effort to post a balanced story by asking for comment from academics / lawyers / think tanks who support use of Sec. 33? Did she call the @CDNConstFound or the @MLInstitute’s Judicial Power Project? Did she attempt to reach any of these four scholars, who just published their views in a @nationalpost op-ed last week?

Did she have an editor who asked why her story lacked any attempt at balance?

And did anyone at CTV pause for a moment to ponder how tendentious it is to accuse a democratically elected legislature of acting “undemocratically” by invoking a power whose entire purpose is to ensure democratic accountability?

She provides some historical context about prior use of Sec. 33. Why does that context not include the fact that most democratically elected provincial governments (including Alberta under Premier Lougheed, and Saskatchewan under NDP Premier Blakeney) agreed to adopt the Charter *only if* it included the Notwithstanding Clause to allow democratically elected Legislatures to ensure a democratic check and balance against the abuse of undemocratic, unaccountable judicial power?

Why does she not mention that for the first 33 years of the Charter era, the Canadian Courts ruled that there was no constitutionally protected right to strike?

Why doesn’t she quote an expert pointing out that Allan Blakeney defended the Saskatchewan Legislature’s 1986 use of Sec. 33 to end a strike as “a legitimate use of the Clause?” Or refer to Peter Lougheed’s 1987 commitment to use Sec. 33 if the courts invented a right to strike?

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Many thoughtful criticisms can be levelled against Section 33. Being undemocratic is not one of them.

So why do we see so much agitprop like this masquerading as news from so many legacy media outlets?

IMO, there are two possible answers:

1) They are blind to their own biases; and / or

2) People like @AngeMAmato believe that they have a moral imperative to be “progressive journalists” which trumps the boringly old fashioned professional imperative to be objective and balanced.

Whatever the reason, “journalists” like this have no one to blame but themselves for growing distrust of legacy media, and the consequent emergence of non traditional media platforms.

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