Slightly more than half of Albertans are dissatisfied with health care system, poll says

A poll from The Montreal Economic Institute and Ipsos finds that 51 per cent of Albertans are dissatisfied with their provincial health care system.

The poll took answers from 1,164 Canadians over the age of 18, and got an oversample of residents from Quebec interviewed online from March 24-28.

This comes as Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced earlier this month that the province was switching to an activity-based healthcare model.

Publicly funded, privately run facilities would be used to speed up wait times for several routine surgeries in Alberta, according to the province.

However, 31 per cent of Albertans think the healthcare system has worsened, with 36 per cent thinking it has improved.

Seventy-four per cent of Canadians think private clinics can deliver care faster than government hospitals – up four per cent from 2024 – and nearly 80 per cent of Canadians say the system is too bloated.

The report also notes that Canadians are divided on whether or not additional “amounts” injected into the healthcare system have led to improvements or not.

And while 56 per cent of Canadians think the province’s rate of spending is unsustainable, 50 per cent of Albertans agree.

Additionally, 56 per cent of Canadians support more access to private healthcare providers.

Ipsos also found support is especially strong in Quebec, with 68 per cent endorsing the change, and Alberta following right behind with 62 per cent.

Canadians and Albertans found common ground, with 73 per cent of both saying they support allowing patients to receive treatment abroad with provincial coverage.

There’s a growing consensus that provincial healthcare systems are overly bureaucratic, with the strongest agreement in Alberta, B.C., and Quebec, with the former carrying the highest at 83 per cent.

More than half of Canadians think the health care system should be decentralized, at 61 per cent, consistent with last year, and 52 per cent of Albertans agree.

The province says the activity-based model has been successful in addressing wait times and healthcare access in other countries like Australia, Sweden and Norway.

Countries like Sweden and France combine universal coverage with private providers to deliver faster and more accessible care.

According to the poll, over eight in 10 Canadians, or 83 per cent, are unaware of the French or Swedish healthcare models, which have been consistent over the past five years.

When informed about how these health systems run, 64 per cent of Canadians supported adopting similar models, according to the report.

With files from Todd Kaufman