That’s from Brent Welch, and gives you some flavour of how many people came out (500 estimated) and some of the speakers.

If you’re not familiar with the story, basically the provincial government was going to put some money into redevelopment, but with a ballooning deficit the decision has been made not to do that. Without that money, the plan is to move 100+ patients to community care (though, what that means is still being debated) so the hospital doesn’t require all that money. Critics of the plan say the patients will end up in shelters, jail or the streets.

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) sponsored last night’s town hall, and also has a Twitter account about this issue. The Alberta NDP is also asking for people to sign a petition to keep the beds open.

You can also keep track of future events (AUPE-sponsored and otherwise) at this Facebook group.