Alberta’s bill enabling dual-practice physicians sets a dangerous precedent

The next step for Ottawa is clear. The Canada Health Act provides that the government ‘shall’ reduce transfer payments to provinces for extra-billing or user charges. If there are no financial consequences to Alberta, the financial pressures on other governments to follow suit will be hard to resist.

Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, now has his majority government so he should use that power to protect Albertans from Premier Danielle Smith's plan to increase health care privatization in her province, write Jason MacLean and Emma Phillips. The Hill Times photographs by Andrew Meade

Opinion

BY JASON MACLEAN, EMMA PHILLIPS

May 21, 2026

It is no exaggeration to say that Alberta’s Bill 11 constitutes the most serious threat to comprehensive publicly funded health care since the inception of medicare. There can also be no doubt that Bill 11 violates both the letter and spirit of the Canada Health Act. The r...

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