Bill 29, the Health Statutes Amendment Act, 2026, is part of a broader shift in Alberta toward increased private delivery and private payment for health-care services. The legislation creates a pathway for Albertans to privately pay for certain diagnostic testing without a referral. While the government presents this as a way to improve access and reduce pressure on the public system, critics argue that it risks creating a two-tier system where people with the ability to pay can access care faster. Friends of Medicare describes the approach as “legislated queue jumping,” warning that private-pay diagnostics could further weaken public capacity rather than reduce wait times.
For nurses, the concern goes beyond whether an individual can pay for a faster test. Alberta already faces shortages of nurses, physicians, diagnostic technologists and other health-care professionals. Research and policy analysis cited by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives suggests that expanding private health care can draw scarce workers and resources away from the public system, potentially increasing—not decreasing—public wait times. As Alberta moves toward private-pay diagnostics and dual physician practice, nurses have an important role in asking whether these changes are actually building new health-care capacity or simply creating a faster pathway for those who can afford it.
Leaving Canada would weaken Alberta’s publicly funded health-care system by eliminating federal health funding and the protections of the Canada Health Act, while creating years of economic uncertainty and disruption.
Separation would threaten economic security by increasing pension risks, reducing job stability, raising living costs, and eliminating national labour protections. Replacing the Canada Pension Plan with an Alberta Pension Plan, combined with the high costs of establishing new provincial institutions, could increase inflation, erode wage gains, and jeopardize retirement security.
Separation would also restrict nurses’ constitutional right to work freely across Canada, limiting career mobility and creating barriers to professional registration.
From a labour perspective, separation would weaken collective bargaining rights and reduce worker protections. Alberta nurses would lose the strength that comes from belonging to Canada’s broader labour movement through organizations such as the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions.
Remaining in Canada is essential to protecting high-quality public health care, workers’ rights, economic stability, and the well-being of Alberta’s nurses and the communities they serve.
You must FULLY complete (including names, addresses, membership numbers and signatures) a nomination formbefore the deadline of JUNE 22, 2026, to local196exec@una.ca
Canada continues to face a persistent nursing shortage, driven in part by retention challenges, heavy workloads and rising cost-of-living pressures. That is why the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) is working to establish a new income tax incentive to improve nursing retention.
In the most recent federal budget, the government introduced a refundable tax credit for personal support workers, recognizing the importance of supporting frontline health care workers through a targeted federal tax measure. Providing a comparable federal tax credit for nurses would help recognize their contribution, support retention and recruitment, and strengthen access to public health care services across Canada.
MP Gord Johns has agreed to sponsor an e-petition in the House of Commons to pursue a federal tax credit for all designations of nurses in Canada. This is the momentum we need to secure the break nurses deserve.
Join the CFNU’s parliamentary petition for the House of Commons to amend the Income Tax Act to create a refundable federal tax credit for nurses.
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Please update your contact information in UNA’s DMS systemif you have not received our newsletter.
Health Care and Alberta’s Future: What’s at Stake?
Canada’s health care system is built on a network of shared funding agreements, national standards, workforce mobility arrangements, and coordinated regulatory systems that have evolved over decades. This month’s A&E spotlight explores how discussions about Alberta’s constitutional future raise important questions about the long-term stability of these systems, particularly regarding federal health transfers, the Canada Health Act, workforce recruitment, and access to medications and medical supplies.
Alberta’s health system is already facing significant pressures, including population growth, an aging population, rising mental health and community care needs, workforce shortages, and the growing impact of social determinants of health such as housing affordability and food insecurity. In this context, maintaining strong national partnerships and stable public funding is presented as an important factor in protecting universal access to publicly funded health care and ensuring Albertans continue to receive care based on need rather than ability to pay.
The Local newsletter was sent via MailChimp with updated member contact information from the Provincial UNA Office. It was sent to personal email addresses only. Please update your contact information in UNA’s DMS systemif you have not received our newsletter.
United Nurses of Alberta, Local 196 
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