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Stand against 2-tiered health care: rally
Posted: September 2, 2026
(September 2, 2026) By: Sandi Krasowski, The Chronicle-Journal
Thunder Bay residents and labour union representatives joined members of the Thunder Bay and District Health Coalition at the constituency office of Thunder Bay-Superior North MP Patty Hajdu on Tuesday during a nationwide Day of Action.
The protesters are calling on all federal Parliament members to take action against Alberta’s Bill 11, which they say would introduce private health care.
Jules Tupker, the health coalition’s co-chairman, with Ed Arvelin, claims that Alberta’s Health Statutes Amendment Act, 2025, formerly known as Bill 11, which took effect on Tuesday, establishes an unprecedented model of two-tiered health-care access in Alberta by permitting doctors to charge patients for medically needed services and bill the public health-care system at the same time.
They also claim it brings in for-profit health insurance, as they have in the United States.
“It’s illegal, and it’s violating the Canada Health Act,” Tupker alleges. “They (ministers) have been protecting the Canada Health Act, but they’re allowing Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and her party to introduce this new process of Bill 11, where they’re basically bringing in insurance to health care, and that has to stop.”
Tupker claims that doctors will take the people who can afford to pay for the insurance ahead of the general public and says the message for Hajdu is to “stand up” to this.
“She was the health minister, so she knows what the Canada Health Act is all about. She knows that this is a violation of the Canada Health Act,” he said. “We’ve got the legal opinion from Goldblatt Partners LLP saying that this violates the Canada Health Act and that they should be stopping it. That’s what we’re here to tell Patty, to go and tell her leader and the rest of the government that this is illegal and they should stop it immediately.”
Hajdu, who is the federal minister of jobs and families, says that the federal government’s focus is to protect the integrity of the public health-care system and ensure that all Canadians can receive health care based on medical need, not on their ability to pay for it.
“We have taken a collaborative approach with all provinces and territories, including Alberta, that respects their jurisdiction to explore innovative ways to improve access and care while protecting the public, universal health care system,” Hajdu told The Chronicle-Journal, adding they have reviewed the regulations and ministerial order published on June 18 that introduces a new dual-practice doctor model in Alberta’s health-care insurance plan.
“My colleague, (Health Minister Marjorie Michel), has asked her counterpart, (Alberta Hospital and Surgical Health Services Minister Adriana LaGrange), to advance targeted discussions between our departments over the coming months to ensure protection of public access to medically necessary care and the core principles of our public system.”
