Overview
- Mayor Blaine Hyggen said the province extended Lethbridge’s response window to the end of May, easing an earlier late‑March deadline that city officials called too short to make an informed choice.
- Emergency Health Services Alberta wants the city to accept a new deal tied to its internal cost benchmark or face a competitive tender or direct provincial delivery of ambulances.
- City administrators say the offer would cut provincial funding compared with the current agreement and could shift any costs above the benchmark to local taxpayers.
- Officials have asked for a full breakdown of how EHS sets its benchmark, but EHS says contract costs are confidential, a gap the city argues blocks fair comparison.
- Lethbridge’s integrated fire and EMS model fields 10 ambulances and is credited locally with strong cardiac survival rates, and union leaders warn a switch to an outside provider could erode training levels and care, even as EHS pledges to keep resource counts and service levels steady.