Alberta’s government is pausing the rollout of its ambulance contract strategy for seven municipalities with integrated fire and ambulance services.
Hospital and Surgical Health Services Minister Adriana LaGrange made the announcement on Monday via social media and notified the municipalities’ mayors.
“We must deliver emergency health services in a consistent, fiscally responsible and patient‑focused way — and we need to get this right,” the post reads.
“This gives communities the time and support needed to plan, adapt and build sustainable services while ensuring emergency health services are always there when Albertans need them most.”
The decision to pause the strategy comes after Alberta’s government had announced a new benchmark price for ambulance contracts in March, which for seven municipalities was a lower dollar amount than what they were receiving from the province.
Red Deer, St. Albert, Strathcona County, Leduc, Spruce Grove and Lethbridge previously had until the end of May to make a decision: less provincial funding and raise taxes to keep their decades-old integrated emergency response model — where firefighters are also trained paramedics — or hand back the contract to the province to choose an operator who can meet the new budget.
Red Deer, Strathcona County and St. Albert decided to keep their model while Leduc, Spruce Grove and Lethbridge opted for change.
While the above six had to make their decision by May due to their contracts expiring in late September 2026, the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo has until 2029 to make its decision.
Municipalities have raised concerns about potential layoffs and slower response times if the model was dismantled. The province previously denied that response times would be worse off because of the changes it plans to implement.
The newly announced pause will see the new benchmark implemented by 2028-29 rather than this fall for those municipalities. But LaGrange told reporters on Tuesday that this was not a shift from the original objective.
“I just felt very strongly that we have an opportunity to ease into it a little bit more,” she said. “But it will be important for us to finally get to the benchmark pricing, perhaps not just as quickly as was anticipated through the original rollout.”
‘A second look’
It is not the first time the province has pressed pause with regard to emergency health services plans in the past few weeks as the ALTA Paramedic Health rebrand was stopped recently.
When asked by reporters if both these decisions were a result of “poor planning,” LaGrange responded that the “takeaway is that we are listening to the public.”
And some did feel listened to, like Lethbridge Mayor Blaine Hyggen, who issued a statement that said he is “grateful the province is taking a second look at how best to move forward.”
“We know there is still a lot of work ahead, but we are optimistic and look forward to collaborating on next steps.”
Elliott Davis, the president of the International Association of Fire Fighters – Alberta, said in a statement that “Alberta’s firefighter-paramedics thank Minister LaGrange for her decision to pause the current process, and take the time needed to work with municipalities and front-line workers to get this right.”
“Alberta’s firefighter-paramedics are ready to be part of the solution, and we look forward to working with the minister, EHS Alberta and municipalities to build a system that is sustainable, practical and focused on providing the best emergency care for Albertans.”
Red Deer Mayor Cindy Jefferies said she was also optimistic after feeling that the initial “timelines of the whole process had been quite rushed.”
“I think it’s a step in the right direction,” she said. “Part of the challenge and not being heard before was that the timeline was so tight it was a surprise and the timeline was two weeks, then extended to a month, then extended a little bit beyond that. And so the opportunity to actually have real conversations with real data talking about real numbers is really critical and with a timeline that gives space for that.
“Often politicians and governments make decisions that don’t work. And sometimes they admit that things maybe went a little awry, and sometimes they don’t. I appreciate that Minister LaGrange just said, ‘I think this is off on the wrong foot. Let’s pull it back and see if we can do better.’”
Maddison McKee, a spokesperson for LaGrange’s office, said in a statement that the decision behind the new benchmark pricing was “to support communities across Alberta in a fair and consistent way [through] a standardized, equity-based benchmark for emergency service contracts.”
Despite that, LaGrange told reporters that she “really want[s] to work with those communities because a one-size-fits-all approach is not going to work,” something Jefferies said she was content to hear.
“I appreciate the comments around one size doesn’t fit all,” Jefferies said.
“What works in one jurisdiction might not work in another. And so prior to that, there had been discussion about the need for equity. And there’s a whole bunch of reasons why equity doesn’t quite work for municipalities across the province.”
What happens between when the current contracts expire in September 2026 and the implementation of benchmark pricing in 2028-29 has not yet been determined, according to Jefferies.
Spokespersons for Strathcona County, the City of Leduc, the City of Spruce Grove and the City of St Albert all shared that the municipalities had heard from the minister, but said information was limited at this point.
Jefferies said she is hopeful upcoming conversations will at least allow the municipalities’ current model to operate until a new agreement is reached, as Red Deer city council voted to increase taxes and maintain the program.
“It seems like that would be the most expedient and less disruptive approach,” she said.
For the municipalities that chose to allow the province to choose an operator, EHS-Alberta told CBC News in a statement that “the procurement strategy remains on track and up to date.”
“As the process is still underway, no new providers have been selected for any municipalities,” EHS-Alberta said in a statement. “Communities served by integrated providers that choose not to continue ground ambulance services will still be included in the competitive process [to select a new provider] to ensure there is no interruption in service.”