Leaders of 50-plus Alberta and Canadian health advocacy organizations urge Ottawa to enforce Canada Health Act
Letter to PM and federal Health Minister says Alberta’s Bill 11 puts public health care at risk throughout Canada
EDMONTON—Leaders of more than 50 organizations in Alberta and across Canada, including health care advocates, health employees’ unions and others, have signed a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney and federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel urging them to enforce the Canada Health Act to protect Canada’s public health care.
“The Canada Health Act and the future of public health care in every province and territory of Canada are in grave danger because of Alberta’s Bill 11, which became law in December 2025,” the letter sent today states. “Bill 11, the Health Statutes Amendment Act, 2025 (No. 2), allows physicians to treat patients in the public health care system while also charging them fees, creating a two-tiered system for those who can pay and those who cannot.”
The letter reminds the PM and his health minister that the Canada Health Act became law on this day in 1984 after being passed unanimously by Parliament. It further notes that the Alberta Government’s Bill 11, the Health Statutes Amendment Act, 2025 (No. 2), clearly violates the federal law.
“It will render this signature achievement of Canadian government without meaning,” the letter says. “It will mean the end of fair, accessible, universal public health care in Canada.”
These 50-plus organizations are hereby reminding Carney and Michel that Ottawa has the power to save Canadian health care by enforcing the federal act, and by blocking implementation of the parts of Bill 11 that are intended to open the door to American-style, two-tier health care in Canada.
“Is today – April 17, 2026 – going to be the last anniversary of the Canada Health Act? The answer is in your hands,” the letter concludes. “Canadians will remember what you did.”
Friends of Medicare encourages Albertans to tell their federal representatives to enforce the Canada Health Act by sending a letter, and by posting a cake on social media in celebration of the anniversary of the Act.
Read the letter:
