
Alberta seeks to move public health to Primary Care Alberta from AHS
Article content
Alberta has tabled another suite of amendments as it pushes forward with refocusing the health care system.
Bill 55 — the Health Statutes Amendment Act 2025 — if passed would transfer front-line public health services out of Alberta Health Services (AHS) to Primary Care Alberta and move public health inspections to Alberta Health.
Health Minister Adriana LaGrange said at a news conference on Thursday the decision to move public health to Primary Care Alberta is to allow AHS to focus on delivering acute care services.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


CTV News
9 hours ago
- CTV News
Advisories issued for two Edmonton-area bodies of water
Edmonton Watch Blue-green algae has been found at Half Moon Lake, and AHS is warning people about fecal bacteria in Hubbles Lake.


Calgary Herald
13 hours ago
- Calgary Herald
Alberta measles case count surpasses 1986 record as outbreaks span all health zones
Alberta has recorded its highest number of measles cases in nearly four decades, with 868 confirmed infections as of Thursday. The worst year for measles in the province was previously 1986, when 843 cases were recorded. Article content According to the province, 29 of the confirmed cases remain active. In Calgary, 18 cases have been reported as of Thursday, including two new cases, while Alberta's South health zone saw five new cases for a total of 606, more than in any other part of the province. Article content Article content Article content Article content 'This includes cases in individuals with no known exposure source, suggesting under-reporting and a broader potential risk of measles transmission across the region,' AHS said in a news release Thursday. Article content AHS has issued a standing measles exposure advisory for the following locations within the North Zone: The hamlet of La Crete, St. Theresa General Hospital in Fort Vermilion and Northwest Health Centre in High Level. Article content Children and youth most affected Article content The outbreak continues to disproportionately affect children and youth in Alberta. Of the 868 cases to date, 247 are in children under the age of five, and another 403 are in children and youth aged five to 17. Most of those infected are unvaccinated, according to the province. Article content Article content Infectious disease specialist Craig Jenne emphasized children are especially vulnerable to developing serious complications from the virus. Article content 'The disease is generally more severe in the youngest Albertans,' Jenne said. 'We have had a number of pediatric patients in ICU. The virus hits them a little harder, but also, when we're looking at who's not vaccinated in the province, that skews quite heavily to the younger Albertans.' Article content Five people are currently hospitalized in Alberta with measles, including one in intensive care. Article content Symptoms include fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes and a blotchy red rash that typically appears three to seven days after the fever begins. Article content


CTV News
15 hours ago
- CTV News
Former Alberta health agency CEO asks for speedy ruling in lawsuit against government
A former health-care agency leader is asking a judge to deliver a quick decision on her wrongful dismissal lawsuit against the Alberta government, but the province says it will push back. Athana Mentzelopoulos, the former CEO of Alberta Health Services, or AHS, has applied for a summary judgment on the legality of her January firing, which would avoid sending the case to trial. Mentzelopoulos first filed the lawsuit in February, alleging that Adriana LaGrange, the province's health minister at the time, tried to shut down an investigation into questionable multimillion-dollar health services contracts and then engineered the CEO's dismissal. The claims of corruption and high-level arm-twisting have sparked multiple investigations, including by the RCMP, the province's auditor general, and a former Manitoba judge hired by the government. Mentzelopolous' latest application, filed in Court of King's Bench in Edmonton this week, alleges LaGrange called a meeting to try to have the AHS board fire Mentzelopolous, but some directors refused. Mentzelopoulos says in a sworn affidavit she believes her claims will be confirmed by former board members if the court compels them to testify under oath as part of the application. 'I was told that when Minister LaGrange was asked why she wanted me terminated, she could give no substantive reason and gave none,' she says. Mentzelopolous alleges that Andre Tremblay, who was on the board and the deputy minister of health at the time, was then directed by LaGrange to fire her. 'I had only positive performance reviews. To my knowledge there was nothing negative at all on my personnel file up to and including the day my employment was improperly terminated by Mr. Tremblay acting without AHS authority,' Mentzelopolous says. Mentzelopolous says by directing Tremblay, LaGrange overstepped the authority of AHS directors. Maddison McKee, LaGrange's press secretary in the new ministry of primary and preventative health services, said in a statement the reasons for the former AHS CEO's dismissal are clearly outlined in the government's statement of defence. 'The government will be vigorously opposing the former CEO's most recent application as it is legally baseless and contains a litany of misinformation and false claims.' The entire board was dismissed soon after Mentzelopoulos was fired. In a statement of defence filed in March, the government said Mentzelopolous was fired not for investigating contracts, but for being an 'alarming' failure at her job. It also alleged Mentzelopolous was stifling mandated health-care reform in order to retain the power and 'personal prestige' of her position. LaGrange's statement said proper procedures were followed and that weeks prior to Mentzelopolous being dismissed, the AHS board chair signed off on the decision. Premier Danielle Smith's United Conservative government has been aggressively restructuring the public health-care system, establishing four separate health-care ministries along with four new sector-specific agencies. Once the provincial health authority, AHS is being reduced to a hospital services provider. LaGrange's defence called Mentzelopolous' account a 'dramatic tale and false narrative' meant to squeeze more money out of the government on top of an annual salary approaching $600,000. Mentzelopoulos was fired one year into a four-year contract. She is seeking $1.7 million in lost pay and damages, while LaGrange is asking that the suit be dismissed. None of the allegations from either side have been proven in court. In a March statement, Mentzelopolous said 'an army of lawyers' had been hired to defend the government. 'I am worried there's a strategy to try to bring me to my knees financially, so I hope we can skip oral questions and proceed directly to trial,' she said at the time. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 12, 2025. Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press