According to a recent report commissioned by the Smith government, there are several ways the province can improve Alberta’s health-care system. But for fundamental change, Alberta must stand up to Ottawa.

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Alberta is a relatively high spender — and poor performer — in a relatively high spending and poor performing health-care country. The province ranked second-highest on health-care spending per person (adjusted for age and sex) among provinces in 2021, the latest year of available data. Yet at the same time, Albertans endured health-care wait times longer than the national average. And again, Canada itself is a relatively high spender among universal health-care countries yet ranks near the bottom for the availability of medical technologies, hospital beds and doctors.

The report, which focuses primarily on future public emergencies, suggests moving towards “activity-based funding” for hospitals rather than set budgets each year.........

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