‘Under attack’: Critics sound alarm on health care ahead of Airdrie town hall

A town hall meeting will take place in Aidrie on Thursday evening to discuss issues with Alberta's health-care system. Mason DePatie reports.

A town hall meeting on Thursday night in Airdrie will address growing concerns over the state of Alberta’s health-care system.

Hosted by the Airdrie-East New Democrats, organizers say the event is designed to give the community a platform to ask questions and hear from non-partisan health experts.

One of the key issues expected to dominate the discussion is health-care privatization.

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Friends of Medicare, an advocacy group scheduled to speak at the event, claims Alberta’s public health system is “under severe attack from the Alberta government.”

The group is particularly concerned about the province’s decision to approve a privately-run urgent care centre in Airdrie.

“Rather than improving outcomes, this centre threatens to siphon front-line workers and limited resources away from our public system,” said the group in a post about the event.

Friends of Medicare also says Airdrie, now the largest municipality in Alberta without a hospital, has been overlooked in health infrastructure planning.

It notes that calls for a new community hospital have gone unanswered, despite the city’s growing population and increasing demand for services.

In a statement to CTV News, Health Minister Adriana LaGrange defended the province’s actions and accused the NDP of spreading misinformation.

“Our government remains fully committed to a strong, publicly funded health-care system and is focused on delivering real, lasting improvements for all Albertans,” LaGrange said.

The minister also cited shortcomings under the previous NDP government, including a compensation model that failed to attract doctors and longer wait times for surgeries.

She then highlighted recent efforts by the current government to expand surgical capacity and recruit more physicians across the province.

The town hall will take place at 6:30 p.m. at Airdrie’s Town and Country Centre.