Ponoka is joining the City of Red Deer in its call to the province for hospital expansion.

The town's newly sworn-in council voted unanimously last night to send a letter to the city supporting its advocacy efforts to get the facility back on the province's list of capital priorities after being dropped last year.

“Central Alberta is the third-largest region in all of Alberta behind Calgary and Edmonton. So we feel that we're always getting spited in the central Alberta region,” said Mayor Rick Bonnett.

“Dollars and cents are always given to Fort McMurray or Grande Prairie or Lethbridge and ... we get told, you're close enough to the big cities.”

Although the Red Deer Regional Hospital is the fourth-busiest in the province, Alberta Health Services has found numerous services, including life-saving ones, have been running at or beyond capacity.

Hundreds lent their voices to the cause at a rally in Red Deer last month.