{"id":954950,"date":"2026-11-02T01:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T01:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/954950\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T01:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T01:02:09","slug":"alberta-emergency-physician-and-health-care-advocate-seeks-ndp-nomination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/954950\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta emergency physician and health care advocate seeks NDP nomination"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Dr. Paul Parks outside the Medicine Hat Regional hospital in Medicine Hat, Alberta Oct. 30. Dr. Parks moved to Medicine Hat from Edmonton in 2009 with his wife and two kids.Todd Korol\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Alberta emergency physician Paul Parks, a long-time health care advocate and prominent critic of the UCP government, never imagined himself entering politics. But now he\u2019s doing just that.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Dr. Parks announced that he is seeking the Alberta New Democratic Party nomination for the riding of Cypress-Medicine Hat, a reliably conservative electoral district in southeast Alberta. The seat is currently held by the United Conservative Party\u2019s Justin Wright, who serves as Minister of Primary and Preventative Health Services.<\/p>\n

NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi, in a statement, said Dr. Parks is an \u201cextraordinary candidate\u201d and would help, if elected, drive the party\u2019s health care policy. Dr. Parks, however, may have to fight for the party position should others put their name forward. <\/p>\n

Dr. Parks has spent the past two decades pushing for a better health care system for workers and patients, including as the past president of the Alberta Medical Association. He said he\u2019s frustrated with the provincial government ignoring the voices of front-line workers while the state of emergency departments (EDs) continues to crumble.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdvocating within the normal channels and through the AMA and through my roles as a physician are broken,\u201d said Dr. Parks. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be a politician, but I think the only way to afford meaningful change now, in the current environment, is to run for politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Parks has been a staunch critic of Premier Danielle Smith and her government\u2019s handling of the health care file, opposing, for example, the UCP\u2019s venture into private health care delivery and its dismantlement of Alberta Health Services as the single health authority.<\/p>\n

Alberta NDP accuses Smith of gerrymandering as province prepares to unveil new electoral map<\/a><\/p>\n

One of his chief criticisms has been the UCP\u2019s inaction to address severe overcrowding in provincial EDs. In January, he led a call to action from doctors working in Edmonton\u2019s major hospitals for Alberta to declare a formal emergency after the death of Prashant Sreekumar. He died on Dec. 22 after spending eight hours in one of the city\u2019s EDs.<\/p>\n

Also in January, Dr. Parks collected a list of at least six preventable deaths<\/a> and more than 30 \u201cnear-misses\u201d that occurred in Alberta emergency rooms, which he said underscored how precarious the situation had grown for health care professionals and patients.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we can change the path we\u2019re on,\u201d Dr. Parks said. \u201cI want to try to improve day-to-day life. I don\u2019t want to be just sitting in the back trying to advocate and be critical. I want to roll up my sleeves and try to make it better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

One of Dr. Parks’ chief criticisms has been the UCP’s inaction to address severe overcrowding in provincial emergency departments.Todd Korol\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

The UCP government has strongly pushed back against his critiques, arguing that improvements have been made in health care delivery, while acknowledging that there is still work to do. Last week, Ms. Smith said the health system is \u201cbetter prepared than ever\u201d to handle respiratory virus season, which tests hospital capacity each year.<\/p>\n

Dr. Parks said, in addition to his frustrations growing over what he said is government inaction to fix the health system, the UCP\u2019s use of the Canadian Constitution\u2019s notwithstanding clause pushed him to enter the political ring. He disagrees with the UCP\u2019s \u201ctop-down approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

The clause \u2013 historically viewed to be a last resort \u2013 allows governments to override certain sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms for up to five years. The UCP used it to shield its trio of laws<\/a> affecting transgender youth from court challenges and to order teachers back to work last year.<\/p>\n

Alberta\u2019s NDP has been gaining political momentum in recent months after capitalizing on opposition to the recent referendum on separatism. One sign of growth came in September when the NDP flipped a conservative stronghold riding with a win in the Calgary-Shaw by-election<\/a>. <\/p>\n

But in areas like Cypress-Medicine Hat, the NDP will face a steep challenge winning local support. In the referendum, electors in the area voted yes to all nine of Ms. Smith\u2019s proposals to challenge the federal government on immigration and constitutional issues.<\/p>\n

The NDP strongly rejected the referendum and advocated for Albertans to say No to all nine questions, underscoring a stark division of opinions. <\/p>\n

Dr. Parks, who describes himself as \u201cfiscally conservative and socially progressive,\u201d acknowledged that it would be a difficult task to rally support for the NDP in his community but said his deep connections in the region give him a leg up. He said his values on health care and beyond align with the NDP.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t join the battle when you know the war is won. You jump in and join when you think you can help win the battle,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dr. Parks moved to Medicine Hat from Edmonton in 2009 with his wife and two kids and has, since then, cared for patients at the Medicine Hat Regional Hospital. He also co-founded the city\u2019s first craft brewery, Hell\u2019s Basement Brewery, in 2016 and is an active member of Medicine Hat\u2019s local theatre community.<\/p>\n

He said his neighbours are more concerned about the daily pressures of everyday life \u2013 the cost of groceries, health care access and school funding \u2013 than the contentious issues outlined in the referendum.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want government that works to make their community better,\u201d he said. \u201cThey want to be able to have a family physician in their community. They want ambulances, when they call, to respond in time so loved ones don\u2019t die waiting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Nenshi said the NDP has a \u201creal plan\u201d for health care focused on reducing waiting lists and ED congestion and hiring more family doctors.<\/p>\n

Alberta\u2019s next general election is scheduled for Oct. 18, 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Dr. Paul Parks outside the Medicine Hat Regional hospital in Medicine Hat, Alberta…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":954951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,84,392,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-954950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954950","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=954950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/954951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=954950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=954950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=954950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}