September 14, 2026:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Edmonton, AB – Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery when it comes to Naheed Nenshi, who last Thursday announced a not-so-new health care plan for Alberta to an equally unimpressed press gallery, fielding zero media questions. That’s because his plan copies commitments that are already being delivered on by Premier Danielle Smith and her United Conservatives.
Other than suggesting health care be re-amalgamated under one ministry, Nenshi and the Alberta NDP offered few new ideas for improving health care in the province. Instead, they repackaged work underway by United Conservatives and presented it as their own.
Here’s the facts:
Nenshi’s plan: Cut ER wait times and expand hospital capacity.
United Conservatives delivering: More than 1,000 new acute care beds planned or announced for Calgary and Edmonton as part of the Emergency Health Services modernization plan, while reducing Assisted Living Alberta patients by 20 per cent to free up hundreds more. Alberta is also investing $400 million to add 1,500 new continuing care spaces.
Nenshi’s plan: Cut surgery, diagnostic, and specialist wait times.
United Conservatives delivering: $525 million to deliver 50,000 more surgeries over three years, expanded operating room capacity, and a new online referral system to better connect Albertans to care.
Nenshi’s plan: Guarantee access to a family doctor or nurse practitioner and expand team-based care.
United Conservatives delivering: Primary Care Alberta is working to attach every Albertan to a primary care provider or team backed by new compensation models to recruit and retain family doctors and nurse practitioners, with over 1,000 doctors and nurse practitioners currently accepting patients. Budget 2026 also invests $87 million to expand the role of nurse practitioners.
Nenshi’s plan: Recruit, train, and retain more health care workers.
United Conservatives delivering: Alberta already has a provincial Health Workforce Strategy, while Budget 2026 invests $148 million to expand seats in high-demand post-secondary programs, including health care. We’ve added two new doctor training centres at the University of Lethbridge and Northwestern Polytechnic in Grande Prairie. We’ve also added 3,159 doctors, 514 nurse practitioners, 21,871 regulated nurses, and 1,885 paramedics since 2019.
Nenshi’s plan: Rebuild trust by reporting on wait times.
United Conservatives delivering: Alberta already has a public Health System Dashboard reporting surgery volume, wait times, and health system performance.
“Nenshi called a press conference to announce a health care plan that sounds an awful lot like the one already being implemented by United Conservatives,” said MLA for Livingstone-Macleod Chelsae Petrovic, who also serves as the Parliamentary Secretary for Health Workforce Engagement. “More surgeries, more doctors, more nurse practitioners, and increased hospital capacity aren’t new ideas. In fact, they’re already happening. The only real innovation seems to be adding the NDP logo to the front page.
“Albertans are looking for action, not imitation. You can repackage someone else’s work, but you can’t take credit for it,” added Petrovic.
While Nenshi and the Alberta NDP are busy re-announcing our ideas, United Conservatives are making them happen.
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