“Definitely not a sustainable way of living”: a look inside the private system that is replacing your public nurses

Working as a travel nurse involves some major trade-offs, sacrificing a pension and paid sick days for flexibility as a “private contractor,” says a nurse from Edmonton who worked for several agencies in Halifax after experiencing pandemic burnout in 2022.
Read more#DEXIT

After nine years with Progress Alberta, our executive director and editor of the Progress Report Duncan Kinney is getting out of the rascal business. Join us as we reminisce about some of Progress Alberta's greatest hits during his tenure, and discuss the thorny issue of 'activist journalism,' on the latest Progress Report podcast.
Read moreA decade after Anthony Heffernan was killed by Calgary cops, review board dismisses family’s appeal of police investigation

The parents of Anthony Heffernan, an unarmed 27-year-old who Calgary police shot in a motel room in 2015, have had their appeal of a limited Police Act investigation into his killing dismissed.
Read moreAHS won’t publicly disclose the latest private nursing contracts, but here’s what we know about the biggest players in the industry
Alberta Health Services (AHS) records show that five companies have dominated Alberta’s agency nursing market, enjoying the major share of AHS contracts from 2015 to 2023.
AHS spending on contract nursing increased steadily from $388,000 for contracts with two companies in the 2015/16 fiscal year to $5 million with five companies in 2020/21 before increasing exponentially to $81 million with 27 companies in 2022/2023.
Read moreA busy week for Alberta politics in Edmonton
It’s been a momentous week in Alberta—especially in Edmonton—for matters both theatrical and not. And you haven’t heard from me in a minute, so let me catch you up.
Read moreLatest agency nursing scoop shows how much we don't know about the practice

Now we know what at least one health care body is paying per hour to private for-profit staffing agencies. Jeremy Appel has an exclusive story for the Progress Report that we just published that reveals what Covenant Care is paying per hour for staffing agency registered nurses (RNs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and even health-care aides (HCAs).
Read moreDocuments show Alberta’s Catholic healthcare body paying private staffing agencies nearly $110 an hour per nurse

Covenant Health is spending nearly $110 an hour per nurse to obtain registered nurses from private, for-profit staffing agencies, more than double the hourly wages of unionized nurses earning the highest possible hourly wage, according to figures provided by the province’s Catholic health-care body.
Read moreTop Progress Report Scoops of 2024: With your help we can report even bigger scoops in 2025

If you’re not a monthly patron to the Progress Report yet, we get it. Finances are tight, one red pepper is worth approximately $17 dollars and yet Galen Weston is still just walking through the streets mostly unmolested.
Read moreHelp Wanted: Director of Operations
Position: Director of Operations
Read moreOne out of five agency nurses worked in Edmonton or Calgary, documents show

One out of every five contracts Alberta Health Services (AHS) awarded to private nursing agencies over the past two-and-a-half years sent contract nurses to health-care facilities in the Calgary and Edmonton areas, according to documents obtained through a freedom of information request.
Read more