Why is Alberta turning public hospitals over to a Catholic provider?

The Big Story

The news broke last week, sort of. It turned out that last month Alberta Premier Danielle Smith had told a United Conservative Party town hall in August that the government had transferred control of a northern Alberta hospital away from Alberta Health Services and turned it over to Convenant Health, a private, Catholic healthcare provider, and that further hospitals would follow.

The story raised many questions—everything from why this was announced in this way, to which services Convenant Health might refuse to perform on faith-based grounds—and so far many of them have yet to be answered. So where do things stand now? Why is the government making this move? And in the bigger picture, what form is the decentralization of Alberta's health care system likely to take?

GUEST: Lauryn Heintz, reporter, CityNews Calgary

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