EDMONTON -- A new private member's bill from the Alberta government aims to the end the province's ban on the private purchase of human blood.
The bill aims to repeal the province's Voluntary Blood Donations Act introduced by the now Opposition New Democrats in 2017.
"I'm deeply concerned about this," said NDP health critic David Shepherd. "[It] increases risk within the system and diverts blood away from Canadian Blood Services."
Tany Yao, the MLA expected to table the bill, did not respond to requests for comment from CTV News.
The premier's issues manager, Brian Bateson, tweeted that the criticism was an "ideological attack."
"The fact is that most of the blood plasma used in Canada is imported from the U.S. Blood plasma saves lives and if there are ways to incentivize more local supply, we should consider them."
Canadian Blood Services says it didn't want to comment on a bill that yet to be tabled.
Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia currently have bills banning the purchase of human blood.
It's not clear yet exactly when Yao will table the bill, but the UCP says it expects to do so before the current legislative session concludes.
