Alberta announces tentative deal with resident doctors

Alberta’s Health Minister Adriana LaGrange says the province has reached a tentative four-year agreement with resident physicians, offering gradual wage increases over the term of the deal.

The agreement, announced Thursday, includes proposed salary hikes of three per cent in each of the first two years and two per cent in each of the final two years. The deal still requires ratification by members of the Professional Association of Resident Physicians of Alberta (PARA).

The development comes as the provincial government faces mounting labour pressures in the health-care system. Negotiations with the United Nurses of Alberta have stalled, raising the possibility of a strike vote, while family doctors continue to wait for a long-promised new compensation framework. Many physicians have warned that delayed payments and rising costs are putting community clinics at risk of closure.

LaGrange said the tentative deal with residents represents progress toward stabilizing Alberta’s health workforce and ensuring that early-career doctors remain in the province.