CALGARY — Alberta is planning to ditch its long-maligned paper health cards with a new app it has dubbed the "Alberta Wallet."
Holding her own crumpled health card from behind a podium, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said Friday the app would allow people to access their health card from their phone.
"We've been trying to get rid of these things," Smith told a news conference in Calgary as she toyed with the small, rectangular card.
She said her own card was dog-eared on both sides and the plastic cover had broken.
The announcement answers the public's long-standing calls for the government to do away with the flimsy, easily damaged paper health cards. Manitoba rolled out plastic cards in January after years of paper cards.
The move left Alberta as the only province still using paper cards.
Creating the new app has cost Alberta $12 million to date, the province said in a statement.
Smith cited issues with Alberta's current cards, saying patients' information at one hospital may not be automatically available at another. That would no longer be a problem with the app, she said.
A durable plastic card integrating the health-care card with an Albertan's driver's licence will be introduced next year, Smith said.
Smith acknowledged that some may not want to use the app. She said it won't be mandatory and that paper cards will still be usable.
Technology Minister Nate Glubish, speaking alongside Smith, said the app will protect users' private information using high-tech encryption software.
"You are in control of how you use this," he said. "Government can't see how you use this — we are simply there in the same way that today, our job is to issue a paper card to provide that you are an insured Albertan."
He added that birth and marriage certificates, diplomas and other documents will likely be available to upload on the app in the future.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2025.
Matthew Scace, The Canadian Press
