ALTA Paramedic Health rebrand was stopped recently.<\/a><\/p>\nWhen asked by reporters if both these decisions were a result of \u201cpoor planning,\u201d LaGrange responded that the \u201ctakeaway is that we are listening to the public.\u201d<\/p>\n
And some did feel listened to, like Lethbridge Mayor Blaine Hyggen, who issued a statement that said he is \u201cgrateful the province is taking a second look at how best to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know there is still a lot of work ahead, but we are optimistic and look forward to collaborating on next steps.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elliott Davis, the president of the International Association of Fire Fighters – Alberta, said in a statement that \u201cAlberta\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlberta\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Red Deer Mayor Cindy Jefferies said she was also optimistic after feeling that the initial \u201ctimelines of the whole process had been quite rushed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it’s a step in the right direction,\u201d she said. \u201cPart 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cOften 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, \u2018I think this is off on the wrong foot. Let’s pull it back and see if we can do better.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Maddison McKee, a spokesperson for LaGrange\u2019s office, said in a statement that the decision behind the new benchmark pricing was \u201cto support communities across Alberta in a fair and consistent way [through] a standardized, equity-based benchmark for emergency service contracts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite that, LaGrange told reporters that she \u201creally want[s] to work with those communities because a one-size-fits-all approach is not going to work,\u201d something Jefferies said she was content to hear.<\/p>\n
\u201cI appreciate the comments around one size doesn’t fit all,\u201d Jefferies said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Jefferies said she is hopeful upcoming conversations will at least allow the municipalities\u2019 current model to operate until a new agreement is reached, as Red Deer city council voted to increase taxes and maintain the program.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems like that would be the most expedient and less disruptive approach,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
For the municipalities that chose to allow the province to choose an operator, EHS-Alberta told CBC News in a statement that \u201cthe procurement strategy remains on track and up to date.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the process is still underway, no new providers have been selected for any municipalities,\u201d EHS-Alberta said in a statement. \u201cCommunities 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alberta\u2019s government is pausing the rollout of its ambulance contract strategy for seven municipalities with integrated fire and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":758576,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-758575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758575","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=758575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/758576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}