CALGARY — The Alberta government is creating a Crown corporation to gather research to bolster its addiction recovery efforts.

The Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence, or CoRE, is expected to be up and running by the summer, with an annual budget of $5 million.

Incoming CEO Kym Kaufmann says the centre will work with the Mental Health and Addiction Ministry about publicly disclosingits data.

The province had long planned to release data on the outcomes of its recovery programs, but Minister Dan Williams says there continues to be a delay due to privacy concerns.

The province is also set to introduce legislation this spring to create a new governing organization, dubbed Recovery Alberta, to take over the file from Alberta Health Services as part of a massive restructuring.

Opposition NDP critic Janet Eremenko says the United Conservative Party government’s creation of Recovery Alberta will do nothing to halt drug poisoning deaths that have climbed to record numbers.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 2, 2024.

The Canadian Press