{"id":562465,"date":"2026-03-26T17:04:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T17:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/562465\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T17:04:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T17:04:14","slug":"ambulance-procurement-among-key-issues-as-municipal-leaders-meet-in-edmonton-discoverairdrie-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/562465\/","title":{"rendered":"Ambulance procurement among key issues as municipal leaders meet in Edmonton – DiscoverAirdrie.com"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new procurement process for Alberta\u2019s ground ambulance services is among four proposals municipal leaders from across Alberta, including Airdrie, are set to consider as the Spring Municipal Leaders\u2019 Caucus<\/a> opens Thursday.<\/p>\n

The two-day meeting, running March 26\u201327 in Edmonton, brings together elected officials from member municipalities. The Premier, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Leader of the Opposition are expected to attend.<\/p>\n

Related Stories:<\/p>\n

Airdrie is among the municipalities represented through Alberta Municipalities, which includes cities, towns and other local governments across Alberta.<\/p>\n

Emergency Health Services (EHS)-Alberta has stated it intends to issue a Request for Proposals for the majority of ground ambulance services across Alberta, with the process expected to begin in summer 2026 and lead to new 10-year service agreements.<\/p>\n

EHS-Alberta currently holds contract agreements with approximately 30 service providers delivering ground ambulance services across Alberta.<\/p>\n

Current contracts are set to expire September 30, 2026, with transition provisions in place to maintain service continuity through September 2027.<\/p>\n

The issue is the subject of a proposal submitted by the Town of Stettler.<\/p>\n

The submission calls on Alberta Municipalities to advocate for municipal consultation in the development of the new procurement framework.<\/p>\n

It states the procurement process \u201crepresents a significant system redesign event,\u201d with the potential to alter provider selection, deployment models and performance requirements.<\/p>\n

It also cites existing pressures, including \u201creduced local coverage\u201d and \u201cextended periods where no ambulance is available within a reasonable response radius.\u201d<\/p>\n

Municipal leaders will also consider a proposal from the Town of Daysland calling for a review of the province\u2019s Police Funding Model and measures to limit increases.<\/p>\n

The submission states the town\u2019s policing requisition is projected to rise from $57,831 in 2026 to $128,880 by 2031, representing more than a 120% increase over five years.<\/p>\n

Another proposal, from the Town of Sylvan Lake, asks Alberta Municipalities to advocate to the federal government to remove GST from municipal franchise fees applied on utility bills.<\/p>\n

The submission states GST is applied to the distribution portion of utility bills, including the municipal fee, creating what it describes as \u201ca \u2018tax on a tax.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

A fourth proposal, from the City of Lacombe, calls for federal reconsideration of the decision to close the Lacombe Research and Development Centre.<\/p>\n

The submission states the closure would affect more than 100 employees and cites impacts on agricultural research capacity.<\/p>\n

Requests for Decision allow municipalities to bring forward issues requiring consideration ahead of the annual convention.<\/p>\n

During the caucus, municipalities may revise proposals before voting. Approved items are referred to Alberta Municipalities\u2019 policy committees for further review<\/p>\n

DiscoverAirdrie encourages you to get your news directly from your trusted source by bookmarking this page and downloading the DiscoverAirdrie app<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new procurement process for Alberta\u2019s ground ambulance services is among four proposals municipal leaders from across Alberta,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562466,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752],"class_list":{"0":"post-562465","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-edmonton"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}