Party leaders hit the campaign trail Thursday, with both United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney and New Democratic Party Leader Rachel Notley promising reduced wait times for elective surgeries.

The issue was front and centre due to a recent study from the Canadian Institute for Health Information that revealed Albertans are waiting longer for certain kinds of elective surgeries.

“This is a public health emergency,” said Jason Kenney, who blamed the long wait times for fueling the opioid crisis.

“So many people waiting for surgery end up being prescribed powerful pain killers which turn into a debilitating addiction in too many cases."

Kenney says the new report highlights failure by the NDP to address the issue.

The report found that 30 per cent of hip and 44 per cent of knee replacement patients are not getting surgery within the recommended wait time while 51 per cent of cataract patients were also delayed.

Altogether the three surgery wait times results in a 10 per cent increase compared to two years ago.

NDP Leader Notley is promising an extra $90 million to shorten waits for cancer, open-heart and cataract surgeries.

She argues that the UCP’s private health care plan will not fix the problem.

"We will not bring down wait times by adopting an American style private healthcare system,” said Notley. “Managing wait times is always a thing that is a challenge. Certainly, as our population ages and population grows particularly in a time where government revenues have dropped as much as they have."

Kenney plans to replicate Saskatchewan’s model to tackle the inflation of wait times, insisting the plan is compliant with the Canada Health Act.

“The act provided only that Medicare had to be publicly administered and that there was no requirement they be delivered by public sector employees in publicly owned facilities.”

Kenney added that his plan would allow him to meet his goal of reducing most wait times to four months or less, something Notley doesn’t see happening.

"We will not bring down wait times by creating two lines. One for the wealthy and the other for the rest of us."

The report from the CIHI was not all negative news, with some promising statistics inside.

Both hip fracture and radiation therapy wait times in Alberta did have some slight improvements in wait times.

With files from CTV Edmonton’s Regan Hasegawa