URGENT ACTION NEEDED

Alberta's Bill 11 Replaces Universal Public Healthcare with a Two-Tier System

⚠️ UPDATE: Bill 11 is being debated in the legislature now. Please use this website to contact the Premier and your MLA by Dec. 5, 2025.

We have to defend and promote Universal Public Healthcare before it's too late.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith wants to let doctors work in both the public and private systems at the same time. She has just introduced legislation to showcase this. 

No Canadian province has ever done this. It creates a private fast lane for people who pay and leaves everyone else waiting longer in a weaker public system.

This is what happens: Dual practice shifts doctors toward private clinics where earnings are higher and conditions are easier. Public wait times grow. Families pay more. Governments can then count every private visit as a “saving,” even as the public system suffers.

Premier Smith touts successes in other countries. But the actual results from those same countries are not good: 

  • Italy: Private waits average about 6 days. Public waits average about 67 days. People who pay get care almost eleven times faster.

  • Portugal: Public waits for surgeries doubled. Complaints rose about 50 percent. More people skipped care due to cost.

  • Japan: Over 80 percent private hospitals. Fragmented care. Staff shortages. The highest doctor visit rate in the developed world as patients shop around.

  • Greece: Years of dual practice drained staff from public hospitals. Waits stretched into months.

These systems also prove something important:  Exhausted doctors do not “work more.” They choose higher paying private work. That drains staff from public care. That slows care for everyone else down.

Two tier care fails everywhere it is tried.

  • Waits grow

  • Staff drain into private clinics

  • Inequality rises

  • Total costs increase

  • Public care becomes the slow lane

Essentially, everyone but the super-wealthy gets reduced access and longer wait times.

Americans show the final outcome of private care. Once premiums, co-pays, and fees are counted, they pay more in taxes and private health care costs combined than Canadians pay in taxes that include healthcare. 

Do we want Canada to turn into this?

We have a better option. Universal public healthcare. When funded, it works. It delivers fair access, stronger equity, and better outcomes.

We built it once. We can rebuild it again.

Stop Alberta Premier Smith’s push for two tier care. Defend universal public healthcare. Sign the petition and send your letter now.

Frequently Asked Questions

It is a single payer system. One public system for everyone. Your health card is your access. No fast track for people who pay. No private lane that drains staff. One coordinated system that delivers care based on need, not income.

When funded properly, universal care delivers better equity, better outcomes, fewer financial barriers, and a stronger workforce. It keeps doctors in the public system and gives everyone access based on need.

It allows doctors to work in the public system and in private clinics at the same time. This creates two tracks: faster care for those who can afford to pay hundreds per appointment, slower care for everyone else.

Doctors shift hours into private clinics where pay is higher. That drains staff from public hospitals and reduces capacity. Waits grow for everyone except the rich and wealthy who pay.

No. Research from Italy, Portugal, and Greece (countries Premier Smith cites as successes) shows that doctors choose the higher paying private lane. They do not add more hours. The public system loses staff.

When people pay privately, governments spend less on that person’s care. They record that as a saving even though the public system becomes weaker and costs for families go up. When you add the cost of private doctor visits and treatments to what you pay in taxes now, you will pay a lot more. The only savings come from providing worse care to those who can’t afford private care.

No. Countries with two tier systems have higher total spending. Americans pay more in taxes once premiums and private fees are counted.

If Alberta opens private fast lanes, other provinces will follow. Universal care weakens across the country.

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Why I'm Supporting...

kim v

calgary, AB

Canada is known for its universal healthcare and as an aging senior I would not be able to afford private health care. Taking away universal health care will change the face of Alberta and Canada for the worse

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shane o

calgary, AB

There's no evidence and this is simply from greed and will reduce the lives of Albertans who are not ultra rich

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131 Report

kevin m

calgary, AB

As an average Albertan I believe strongly that healthcare should be equal for all, regardless of the size of their bank account.

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170 Report

kristen b

edmonton, AB

A two-tiered system would ONLY serve to weaken the public system.

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suzanne d

sherwood park, AB

I am 67 yrs old and have severe arthritis . Now I really need the healthcare system .

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105 Report

eleanor w

sherwood park, AB

Canada needs to keep Healthcare free & fair for all

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Defend universal public healthcare. Sign the petition and send your letter now.

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annette m

calgary, AB

I have family that live in the states and I know what they pay monthly for healthcare and the deductibles and we can’t afford that nor should we have to pay.

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sandra s

calgary, AB

I am absolutely terrified by the thought of our healthcare system turning into what we see in the USA.

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heather s

sherwood park, AB

I'm supporting because if this bill passes, we all lose something we value fundamentally as Canadians: public health care.

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michele r

edmonton, AB

We are Canada not the the USA a two tier healthcare system will only benefit those that can afford it

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57 Report

melinda b

calgary, AB

If the rich want faster service they can afford to go to another country. Leave our Healthcare alone. No private Healthcare in Alberta.

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63 Report

tom c

edmonton, AB

This province needs well funded universal healthcare, not two-tier

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Stop Premier Danielle Smith’s plan to introduce to-tier healthcare and end universal healthcare.

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phyllis t

edmonton, AB

I am a retired nurse and understand how the system works and doesn’t work. What we need now is more doctors and HCWs, not existing (already overworked ) ones working even more hours.

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hugh c

calgary, AB

The health care in Alberta is falling apart and now you want to split it between the rich and the poor

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paige b

calgary, AB

Equal medical care should be available for everyone, not the best for the wealthy.

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26 Report

ryan d

edmonton, AB

For Profit healthcare is unnecessary when we have public healthcare that would be perfectly fine in more competent hands.

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31 Report

megan c

lloydminster, AB

Our healthcare system needs more nurses and doctors not more corporate interference.

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28 Report

rose h

calgary, AB

Free Healthcare is the right of all Canadians

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Don't forget to sign up

Two-tier healthcare creates a private fast lane for people who pay and leaves everyone else waiting longer in a weaker public system.

Sign the petition

mary-ann h

edmonton, AB

Because I believe in universal health care and equal access for all.

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eridan p

calgary, AB

Public health care has saved my life, the lives of many of my friends and family, and countless others

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16,243 Supporters
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16,243 Supporters
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BILL IS BEING DEBATED NOW. TAKE ACTION BY DEC. 5, 2025

Tell the Alberta Premier: No Two-Tier Healthcare

An email will be sent on your behalf to Premier Smith, your local MLA, and opposition leader Naheed Nenshi. We will also keep you informed about how you can help.

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