Activists canvass health minister’s constituency with calls to ‘step down’

People from Edmonton and Calgary travelled to Adrianna LaGrange's Red Deer riding on Thursday to call for her resignation as health minister.

Dozens of Alberta activists are on a road trip to Red Deer to call for the resignation of Health Minister Adriana LaGrange.

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Public Interest Alberta arranged the trip, with buses picking up protesters in Edmonton and Calgary on Thursday morning.

“We’re very concerned about the state of health care in Alberta,” said Judy Lederer, with Public Interest Alberta’s seniors task force.

“We’re concerned that the public system appears to be being dismantled in favour of moving toward more privatized delivery.”

The group will head to Red Deer North, where LaGrange’s constituency office is located, for an afternoon of door knocking with Red Deer residents who are also frustrated.

“The time is for her to step down as health minister, there’s just too much chaos,” Bradley LaFortune, executive director of Public Interest Alberta, said.

“And, you know, quite frankly, alleged corruption and scandal as well.”

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About 80 people were expected between the two cities. LaFortune said they will be handing out pamphlets in LaGrange’s riding on the procurement scandal, doctor shortages, the Red Deer Hospital delay and staffing issues across the system.

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“If the health minister from Red Deer can’t build a hospital in Red Deer, we’ve got serious problems on our hands,” LaFortune said.

“We can’t wait for another election to send a message about what we need when it comes to protecting public services and strengthening them,” he added.

“The message we want to send is, ‘Please, you know, preserve and rebuild our health-care system, our public system,’” Lederer said. “We have hospitals, adequately staff them. If there’s empty operating rooms, open them.”

The Minister of Health’s office said LaGrange is focused on strengthening Alberta’s health-care system and “delivering on the real priorities of the people of Red Deer North and all Albertans.”

“Public Interest Alberta is a blatantly partisan activist group led by the former chief of staff to the leader of the official opposition. They do not represent the views of all Albertans and are once again engaging in the same predictable political antics,” her office wrote in an email to CTV News Edmonton.