UCP VOTE TO ALLOW EXPORTATION OF BLOOD DURING A PANDEMIC

EDMONTON - The UCP passed Bill 204, The Voluntary Blood Donations Repeal Act , through second reading. This bill will give Canadian Blood Service less control of the supply of blood and will allow private companies to come into Alberta to collect and export blood. 

The voluntary blood donations act was brought in by the NDP in 2017 led by former Health Minister and current MLA for Edmonton-Glenora, Sarah Hoffman. Current Health Minister, Tyler Shandro, did not speak to the bill this afternoon.

“I listened and talked about this bill with CEO of Canadian Blood Services, Graham Sher, when he came to Edmonton last week to urge both the UCP and NDP to not go forward with these changes,” said Sarah Hoffman. “When I was Health Minister, before I made changes to Alberta’s blood collection system, I consulted thoroughly with Canadian Blood Services. I hope the current Minister has done the same. The fact that Canadian Blood Services has spoken so strongly against this is a matter of grave concern which I hope he addresses.”

Repealing the current blood donation system will have drastic effects on the Canadian Blood Services centre set to open in Lethbridge. UCP MLA for Lethbridge-East, Nathan Neudorf, spoke in support of the bill this afternoon but hardly mentioned the new centre.

“I was happy to see MLA Neudorf rise and speak and was hoping he would talk about how the bill will affect Lethbridge,” said Sarah Hoffman. “Not only did he ignore the impact of blood collection in Lethbridge, he failed to mention what this will mean for jobs at the new Canadian Blood Services site”.