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Alberta

Stoney Nakoda RCMP conduct drone trials to enhance safety of Albertans

Published

10 months ago

4 minute read

Alberta RCMP testing Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems drone technology (Photo from Alberta RCMP Facebook page)

News release from the Alberta RCMP

Keep an eye on the sky! 

Stoney Nakoda, Alta. – From June 4-June 15, 2024, Stoney Nakoda RCMP will be participating in a ‘pilot’ program to test Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), commonly known as drones, and how it can be used to respond to calls for service. Stoney Nakoda was selected as one of three communities for the RPAS trials, scheduled for May and June of this year.  The trials are being held in a mid-sized community, large municipality, and an Indigenous community.

RPAS technology is already used by the Alberta RCMP for a variety of needs including traffic accident reconstruction, search and rescue, major crimes investigation, and emergency response team calls. The trial is being conducted as another step in exploring potential new ways RPAS technology can be used to help ensure the safety of Albertans.

The objectives of the trials are to learn more about RPAS, to test different technologies, and to determine how RPAS can be used to better serve our communities.

During the trial period, the RCMP will be testing a new type of service delivery where RPAS will be used to assist police responding to certain calls by providing air support. RPAS will be deployed from the Stoney Tribal Administration Building (40 Morley Rd, Morley, AB) for various calls to service including crimes in progress, flight from police, suspicious persons, missing persons, assist EMS/Fire, or even to support natural disaster response.

The decision to further explore and expand RPAS usage was made following thorough research into the use of the technology by law enforcement in other jurisdictions. The decision is also based on recommendations to increase air support made by the Mass Casualty Commission following the Mass Casualty Event in Nova Scotia.

“We’re always excited to work with the people of Stoney Nakoda to figure out new ways that we can serve the community,” says Inspector Dave Brunner, Officer in Charge of the Stoney Nakoda RCMP. “These RPAS trials will give us the opportunity to test new technology and develop new methodologies that will help ensure the safety of members, our communities, and help us continue to build trust and confidence with the people we serve.”

The expansion of the RPAS program is being done in consultation with the RCMP National RPAS Program, law enforcement partners, municipal and provincial governments, and industry experts to ensure that the program is developed to best meet the needs of Albertans. Following the trial, the RCMP will evaluate the program to determine if RPAS can be used to enhance public safety and will update the public on the results.

The Stoney Nakoda Tribal leadership, which includes Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Goodstoney bands, wish to share:

“The Stoney Nakoda Nation welcomes the RCMP Drone-Trial Project and looks forward to assisting them in providing an enhanced police service to First Nations while respecting the privacy and culture of our people.  We hope this new technology will aid the RCMP in reducing the levels of drug trafficking, the crime and pain this brings to our Nation.  We look forward to receiving further briefings from the RCMP on the results of the trial and how this new capability will aid in providing increased safety and security to our people.”

RCMP-provided information related to the local RPAS trial will be hosted at Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems Pilot Program (rcmp-grc.gc.ca).

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Alberta

Alberta takes big step towards shorter wait times and higher quality health care

Published on April 9, 2025

By

From the Fraser Institute

By Nadeem Esmail

On Monday, the Smith government announced that beginning next year it will change the way it funds surgeries in Alberta. This is a big step towards unlocking the ability of Alberta’s health-care system to provide more, better and faster services for the same or possibly fewer dollars.

To understand the significance of this change, you must understand the consequences of the current (and outdated) approach.

Currently, the Alberta government pays a lump sum of money to hospitals each year. Consequently, hospitals perceive patients as a drain on their budgets. From the hospital’s perspective, there’s little financial incentive to serve more patients, operate more efficiently and provide superior quality services.

Consider what would happen if your local grocery store received a giant bag of money each year to feed people. The number of items would quickly decline to whatever was most convenient for the store to provide. (Have a favourite cereal? Too bad.) Store hours would become less convenient for customers, alongside a general decline in overall service. This type of grocery store, like an Alberta hospital, is actually financially better off (that is, it saves money) if you go elsewhere.

The Smith government plans to flip this entire system on its head, to the benefit of patients and taxpayers. Instead of handing out bags of money each year to providers, the new system—known as “activity-based funding”—will pay health-care providers for each patient they treat, based on the patient’s particular condition and important factors that may add complexity or cost to their care.

This turns patients from a drain on budgets into a source of additional revenue. The result, as has been demonstrated in other universal health-care systems worldwide, is more services delivered using existing health-care infrastructure, lower wait times, improved quality of care, improved access to medical technologies, and less waste.

In other words, Albertans will receive far better value from their health-care system, which is currently among the most expensive in the world. And relief can’t come soon enough—for example, last year in Alberta the median wait time for orthopedic surgeries including hip and knee replacements was 66.8 weeks.

The naysayers argue this approach will undermine the province’s universal system and hurt patients. But by allowing a spectrum of providers to compete for the delivery of quality care, Alberta will follow the lead of other more successful universal health-care systems in countries such as Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland and create greater accountability for hospitals and other health-care providers. Taxpayers will get a much better picture of what they’re paying for and how much they pay.

Again, Alberta is not exploring an untested policy. Almost every other developed country with universal health care uses some form of “activity-based funding” for hospital and surgical care. And remember, we already spend more on health care than our counterparts in nearly all of these countries yet endure longer wait times and poorer access to services generally, in part because of how we pay for surgical care.

While the devil is always in the details, and while it’s still possible for the Alberta government to get this wrong, Monday’s announcement is a big step in the right direction. A funding model that puts patients first will get Albertans more of the high-quality health care they already pay for in a timelier fashion. And provide to other provinces an example of bold health-care reform.

Nadeem Esmail

Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute
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Alberta

Alberta’s embrace of activity-based funding is great news for patients

Published on April 9, 2025

By

From the Montreal Economic Institute

Alberta’s move to fund acute care services through activity-based funding follows best practices internationally, points out an MEI researcher following an announcement made by Premier Danielle Smith earlier today.

“For too long, the way hospitals were funded in Alberta incentivized treating fewer patients, contributing to our long wait times,” explains Krystle Wittevrongel, director of research at the MEI. “International experience has shown that, with the proper funding models in place, health systems become more efficient to the benefit of patients.”

Currently, Alberta’s hospitals are financed under a system called “global budgeting.” This involves allocating a pre-set amount of funding to pay for a specific number of services based on previous years’ budgets.

Under the government’s newly proposed funding system, hospitals receive a fixed payment for each treatment delivered.

An Economic Note published by the MEI last year showed that Quebec’s gradual adoption of activity-based funding led to higher productivity and lower costs in the province’s health system.

Notably, the province observed that the per-procedure cost of MRIs fell by four per cent as the number of procedures performed increased by 22 per cent.

In the radiology and oncology sector, it observed productivity increases of 26 per cent while procedure costs decreased by seven per cent.

“Being able to perform more surgeries, at lower costs, and within shorter timelines is exactly what Alberta’s patients need, and Premier Smith understands that,” continued Mrs. Wittevrongel. “Today’s announcement is a good first step, and we look forward to seeing a successful roll-out once appropriate funding levels per procedure are set.”

The governments expects to roll-out this new funding model for select procedures starting in 2026.

* * *

The MEI is an independent public policy think tank with offices in Montreal, Ottawa, and Calgary. Through its publications, media appearances, and advisory services to policymakers, the MEI stimulates public policy debate and reforms based on sound economics and entrepreneurship.

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