The mayor of Lethbridge, Alta., says he’s “thrilled” the provincial government has decided to stop its new procurement strategy for integrated fire and EMS operators. However, the decision is also raising questions about the government’s planning process.
Earlier this year, the province told the city it would have to spend more money to maintain the current service, which has operated for 114 years, or allow Emergency Health Services to create a cost-saving plan that could lead to the fire department being separated from ground ambulance services and handing over ambulatory care to the province.
The plan was met with fierce opposition in several affected communities, including Lethbridge, Red Deer, St. Albert and Strathcona Counties.
However, in a social media post Monday, Alberta Hospital and Surgical Health Services Minister Adriana LaGrange announced she was putting the strategy on hold while the government works with the seven affected communities, “to develop a strategy that supports them and brings costs in line with EHS services provided in the province by 2028-29.”
“We are grateful that the province has taken a second look at the EMS contracts for integrated fire and EMS,” Mayor Blaine Hyggen said at a news 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 who operate the fire and emergency services. We also know that integrated service is more expensive and we have to find a way, of course, to make it sustainable without putting a tax burden on residents,” Hyggen said.
Asked in Calgary Tuesday why the government is putting the plan on hold, LaGrange said after hearing from mayors and concerned citizens, the government realized it would take more time to find a solution.
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“I really want to work with those communities because a one-size-fits-all approach is not going to work,” LaGrange added, “and so I felt very strongly that we have an opportunity to ease up a little bit more.
“But it will be important for us to finally get to benchmark pricing, perhaps not as quickly as anticipated during the original presentation.”
It is the second time in two weeks that LaGrange has backed away from a previous government decision.
On June 10, Alberta’s hospitals minister ended a controversial renaming of the province’s paramedic service providerwhich would have seen ambulances equipped with new logos and paramedics wearing new uniforms.
Critics, including unions representing about 3,500 paramedics across Alberta, called the renaming a waste of resources that should be used to address working conditions and staff shortages.
In early June, the Alberta government was forced to back down on a decision to rename ambulances across the province and equip paramedics with new uniforms.
Government of Alberta
“It’s unusual. We don’t usually see this government admit there’s been a problem and back away from a certain policy,” said Mount Royal political science professor Lori Williams.
“The fact that it happened twice in such a short period of time begins to raise questions about how effective the planning was in the first place and this brings another criticism that we see in a number of files, especially in health, with this government, that there is a lack of planning and implementation of those plans.
“It’s not a great picture, especially in an area that concerns Albertans — it’s among their top priorities. A lot of people in health care were warning that these were problems a long time ago, and the government seems to be figuring it out on its own.”
LaGrange explains the withdrawal by claiming the provincial government is “listening to the public.”
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