A one-size-fits-all solution for fixing Canada's medicare woes does not exist, Alberta's Health Minister told a commission yesterday that is searching for ways to improve the beleaguered health-care system.

Health and Wellness Minister Gary Mar also told the commission headed by former Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow that, without an injection of more federal funds, the national nature of the system that is prized by Canadians will dissolve.

"To suggest we have a Canadian health-care system is, in my view, a fiction," Mr. Mar said during the commission's stop in Calgary on its cross-country tour.

Refusing to wait for Mr. Romanow's recommendations, which are expected by yearend, Alberta's Progressive Conservative government has already adopted portions of a radical report recommending an overhaul of health care.

That report, led by former deputy prime minister Don Mazankowski, recommended increases in health-care premiums, use of private health-care providers for publicly funded services, the possible delisting of medical services and creation of medical savings accounts. But critics worry that acceptance of the Mazankowski report in Alberta could erode Canada's public health-care system and break the principles in the Canada Health Act.

"The directions taken in one province may not be appropriate for another," said Mr. Mar, adding that health care can only be managed in partnership with the provinces, not by a "top-down, Ottawa-driven system."

Mr. Mazankowski, who also appeared before the commission yesterday, said it was never the province's intention to challenge the principles in the federal health-care act or set up a parallel private system.

But at the same time, he added that neither governments nor the public should fear blending the use of public and private health-care providers.

"I think a lot of his [Mr. Romanow's] findings will be similar to ours with the exception that he's looking at a broader constituency," Mr. Mazankowski told reporters.

Heather Smith of the United Nurses of Alberta told the hearing that Alberta's prescription for health-care reform has hobbled the system through funding cuts and constant change. She said the movement toward private heath care is motivated simply by profit and doesn't address the underlying problems.

Mr. Romanow said yesterday's input from Alberta echoes themes common to what he has heard across the country.