The mayor of Lethbridge says he is “ecstatic” with the provincial government’s decision to halt its new procurement strategy for integrated fire and EMS operators.
However, the decision is also prompting questions about the government’s planning process.
Earlier this year, the province told several communities they would need to spent more money to keep their current services —which in Lethbridge has been operating for 114 years — or allow Emergency Health Services (EHS) – Alberta to come up with a cost-saving plan that could lead to splitting fire departments from ground ambulance services and handing ambulatory care over to the province.
The plan was met with fierce opposition in several affected communities, including Lethbridge, Red Deer, St. Albert, Spruce Grove and Strathcona County.
The move was announced when MLA Matt Jones was in charge of hospitals and surgical health services, but a cabinet shuffle on May 21 saw Adriana LaGrange switch from the preventative health-care ministry to hospitals.
In a social media post on Monday, LaGrange announced the integrated fire-EMS move is being halted.
The new minister of hospital and surgical health services said she was putting the strategy on pause while the government works with the seven communities affected, “to design a strategy that supports them and brings costs in line with provincially delivered EHS services by 2028-29.”
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“We’re grateful that the province has taken a second look at EMS contracts for integrated fire and EMS,” said Mayor Blaine Hyggen at a press conference in Lethbridge on Tuesday.
“We said throughout the process that we believe in our system, and of course, we support our men and women that operate the fire and emergency services.
“We also know integrated service is more expensive and we need to find a way, of course, to make it sustainable without putting tax burden on the residents.”
Asked in Calgary on Tuesday why the government is pausing the plan, LaGrange said after hearing from the mayors and concerned citizens, the government realized it’s going to take more time to come up with a solution.
“I really want to work with those communities because the one-size-fits-all approach is not going to work,” added LaGrange, “I just felt very strongly that we have an opportunity to ease into it a little more.
“But it will be important for us to finally get to the benchmark pricing, perhaps not just as quickly as was anticipated through the original rollout.”
It’s the second time in two weeks LaGrange has backtracked on an earlier government decision made while Jones was minister.
On June 10, she put an end to a contentious rebranding of the province’s paramedic service provider, which would have seen ambulances outfitted with new logos and paramedics wearing new uniforms.
Critics, including the union representing about 3,500 paramedics across Alberta, called the rebrand a waste of resources that should be put toward addressing working conditions and staff shortages.
“It is unusual. We don’t typically see this government acknowledging there has been a problem and backing away from a particular policy,” said Mount Royal political science professor Lori Williams.
“The fact that it has happened twice in such a short period of time starts to raise questions about how effective the planning was in the first place, and that leads to another criticism that we see on a number of files, particularly in health care, with this government — that the planning is lacking and the implementation of those plans.
“It’s not a great look, particularly in an area that concerns Albertans — it’s amongst the top priorities that they have. Many people in health-care were warning that these were problems long ago and the government is just now appearing to come to that realization itself.”
LaGrange explains the backtracking by claiming the provincial government is “listening to the public.”
Hatred when they do it, ok when we do it.
Right, ok, your smartness is coming thru fine and clear.
The government realized it made a mistake and stopped what it was doing, sounds like that exactly how it should work.
Alberta continues to improve, grow and welcome normal Canadians to Alberta.
Meanwhile the peanut gallery spews their hate daily.
Thankfully these halfwits will never see power.
A gaggle of Lib/NDP halfwits spewing their hatred.
A gaggle of Lib/NDP halfwits spewing their hatred.
How cute.
This happens when you put a dumb twat who thinks open air coal mining is healthy in charge of your health.
These people got elected to self-help but no one else.
Fools are those whole voted for all this nonsense.
We as a society have lost more for a little gain these crooks may have promised.
People aren’t happy when changes proposed and aren’t happy when changes postponed for now. Appears to be some people just are never happy.
Stupidest people in Canada think Smith is out for anyone but herself.
Staff shortages but Smith plays with referendums that she knows are a waste of time and taxes!
Who in their right mind would ever vote for these completely incompetent UCP politicians? They couldn’t organize a piss-up in a brewery but they think that they’re the saviours of Alberta.
another example of premier smith’s wayward priorities.she should spend more time providing good government and less time satisfying her personal ideologies