Wright says team-building background helps as new health minister

Posted on July 9, 2026 by Ryan Dahlman

By Zoe Mason
Southern Alberta Newspapers

Premier Danielle Smith shuffled her cabinet earlier this year, landing her Medicine Hat counterpart Justin Wright in a ministerial position for the first time.

Formerly parliamentary secretary for rural health south and chief government whip, the Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA was promoted to oversee the Primary and Preventative Health Services portfolio after Adriana LaGrange vacated the post in the shuffle.

It is one of the province’s highest profile portfolios.

Wright, first elected to office in 2023, is confident he has the skills necessary to succeed in the role, but he’s willing to learn from those who know more than he does.

“I’m not going into this with preconceived notions as to where the system is working or not. For me, it’s really about learning from the subject matter experts in the field,” he told Southern Alberta Newspapers. 

Wright says his mandate is the broadest of the four health ministers, describing it as covering “anything that includes primary care,” including family doctors, nurse practitioners, local care networks, public health and public safety.

Over the past year, legislation advanced by the ministry has had a substantial impact on the structure of the province’s health system, introducing greater privatization by enabling private, elective diagnostic testing and unrolling a parallel, for-profit pathway for certain surgical services.

It’s a complex portfolio with an expansive reach.

Prior to entering politics, Wright spent 20 years in business.

“I’ve run mom-and-pop shops all the way up to 220,000 square-foot, $100-million-budget organizations,” he said.

Wright concedes he doesn’t have a health-care background but doesn’t regard it as a weakness.

“What I do have is a team management background, and listening to our health-care professionals and what they’re experiencing in the field, I think is going to be absolutely crucial,” he said.

“In my opinion, it’s not about having the whole gambit of knowledge, as much as it is to have the willingness to listen to what our frontline folks are saying and take their advice.”

Doctors and frontline health-care advocates have argued the present government has shown no interest in that kind of engagement. Critics in the health sector express a consistent difficulty connecting with ministers and other decision makers in Smith’s government.

Wright wants to take a different tack. He says he’s spent his first weeks in office connecting with frontline representatives of all stripes.

He estimates he has met with 30 different colleges, associations and groups of individuals representing a variety of health-care disciplines.

“It’s been a really great three weeks of drinking from the fire hose, if you will,” he said. “To really connect with these organizations, to have these important dialogues to understand where the pain points on and how we can improve those engagement pieces with our frontline health-care practitioners.”

The last year of working as a parliamentary secretary of rural health has helped him form relationships in the sector that he hopes he can expand on in this elevated role.

Wright is no exception among Alberta’s four health ministers – none of the present ministers have any medical background.

As for measurable outcomes, Wright says his foremost goal in the minister’s office is to ensure every Albertan is attached to a primary care provider.

Wright says the attachment rate has increased from the high 70s to the low 80s since the present government took over.

An estimated 650,000 Albertans remain unattached to a family doctor.

But in the Palliser Primary Care Network, Wright says that number is up to approximately 94 per cent. He thinks the rest of the province could stand to learn from its example.

In his first announcement as minister last month, Wright unveiled an agreement with the Alberta Pharmacists’ Association that will expand their powers and adjust their funding.

He says that policy is emblematic of his approach to the portfolio, where he will look to find unused capacity in the system and make policy that takes advantage of it.

“It’s about finding ways to find better outcomes for Albertans closer to home.”