An Alberta emergency room physician has issued a stark warning, stating that the province's current health care crisis was both predictable and preventable. Dr. Raj Sherman made the comments during an appearance on Alberta Primetime on January 13, 2026.
A Warning Ignored
Dr. Sherman, a former Alberta Liberal leader and a vocal advocate for health care reform, argued that the strains now overwhelming emergency rooms and hospitals across the province did not appear overnight. He suggested that years of policy decisions and a failure to address known systemic weaknesses have led to the current breaking point. His analysis points to a fundamental mismatch between patient needs and the system's capacity to deliver timely care.
The Broader National Health Context
The warning from Alberta comes amid a national focus on health care challenges. Recent reports highlight similar pressures across the country. For instance, Nova Scotia spent $7.7 billion on health care last fiscal year, according to its auditor general, underscoring the massive financial investments being made. Meanwhile, a citizen-led website in Regina is attempting to directly connect residents with family doctors who are accepting patients, a grassroots solution to a nationwide access problem.
Statistics Canada also recently reported that while Canadian women live longer, they spend more years in poor health, indicating deeper issues about quality of life and chronic disease management that feed into emergency demands.
An Urgent Call for Systemic Change
Dr. Sherman's central argument is that the crisis was not an inevitable disaster but the result of choices. By labeling it preventable, he places the responsibility on policymakers and system administrators to learn from past mistakes. His comments add to a growing chorus of frontline medical professionals calling for transformative change rather than temporary fixes.
The situation in Alberta's emergency departments serves as a microcosm of a larger Canadian dilemma: how to sustainably fund and manage a universal health care system amid rising costs, an aging population, and increasing complexity of care. The doctor's message is clear: without addressing the root causes he and others have long identified, the cycle of crisis will continue.
