Leader of Alberta's NDP Rachel Notley, as well as infrastructure critic Thomas Dang, held a press conference in front of the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre Friday afternoon. (Photo by Sean McIntosh/Advocate staff)

Alberta NDP commits to Red Deer hospital expansion

‘We care about ending the chaos in Central Alberta healthcare,’ says party leader Rachel Notley

Alberta’s NDP says it is committed to building the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre expansion and launching the “largest recruitment campaign” the province has ever seen.

“We care about ending the chaos in Central Alberta healthcare,” Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley said on social media Saturday morning.

In a statement, Alberta’s NDP claimed it would prioritize the completion of the hospital. It also committed to the following:

  • Press forward urgently with the expansion of the hospital, and explore any opportunity to speed up the timeline;
  • Recruit and train new healthcare workers to ensure the hospital is fully staffed;
  • Be transparent with the project’s timeline and communicate any changes.

Alberta’s NDP said it will “never pursue a P3 construction model for the hospital, as these models only lead to further delays.”

“We will provide stable, competent leadership that will end the chaos in healthcare in central Alberta,” the party added.

“The people of Red Deer and central Alberta deserve their regional hospital to be a priority. The UCP’s handling of the Red Hospital expansion has been chaotic and incompetent.

“The UCP has failed to deliver any substantial progress on expanding the Red Deer Hospital. After nearly four years they have quietly delayed the project even further.”

This past Thursday, the Government of Alberta hosted an information session to provide a status overview of the $1.8-billion hospital expansion project.

During the event, Minister of Infrastructure and Deputy Premier Nathan Neudorf said central Albertans shouldn’t expect the hospital expansion project to be complete by 2030-31. But he did say it’s possible the project could be complete sooner.

“I want to underpromise and overdeliver, not overpromise and underdeliver,” Neudorf said.



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