We recently finished the fall sitting of the Alberta Legislature and the Stelmach government is once again struggling to find solutions to Alberta’s health care problems. For two and a half years this government has known that there is a dangerous crisis in health care, and it has been hiding this from Albertans. In February 2008 the Premier promised emergency department doctors that his government would take action to end the ER crisis. Two and a half years have passed, and people have continued to suffer and even die in emergency rooms.

Meanwhile, in our community, the brand new urgent care and family medicine sections of the East Edmonton Health Centre on 112 Avenue remain unopened. They were built to take pressure off the emergency room at the Royal Alexandra Hospital. Alberta Health Services estimates that every year 34,000 people from northeast Edmonton, including Boyle Street and McCauley, that currently go to the Royal Alex emergency room will use the urgent care facility in the East Edmonton Health Centre instead. Opening these much-needed facilities is a simple solution that will provide vital services to our part of the city and will also address the dire emergency room crisis.

On November 18, 2010, I kicked off a petition campaign to urge the government to immediately open the East Edmonton Health Centre. I urge you to join me in the fight by contacting my office at (780) 474-0682 or Edmonton.HighlandsNorwood@assembly.ab.ca and requesting copies of the petition and circulating them to your friends, neighbours, and co-workers. Together, we can make a difference in our community.

Brian Mason is the MLA for Edmonton Highlands-Norwood.