The Alberta government has backed away from two of the most controversial aspects of its so-called Third Way plan to reform medicare.

Late Thursday, the province's health minister said public backlash over private health care plans forced the government to step back -- at least for now.

"We are not prepared to proceed with private insurance at this time," Health Minister Iris Evans told reporters after a lengthy caucus meeting.

"We are not recommending that doctors working in both (public and private) systems be part of the policy framework."

The province hoped to allow doctors to operate in both systems at the same time. It also wanted to allow Albertans the right to buy their way to the top of the queue for procedures such as joint replacements, even though the measures would risk breaching the Canada Health Act.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper wrote a stern letter to Alberta Premier Ralph Klein last month, saying the province would violate the act if it went through with their proposals.

Federal Health Minister Tony Clement also seemed to caution Evans this week, as he sought assurances that Alberta would not violate regulations for health-care delivery in Canada.

"You can do a heck of a lot of innovating within the confines of the Canada Health Act," said Clement, as he pointed to an Alberta pilot project that drastically reduced wait times for hip and knee replacements in Calgary.

"There's lots of ways the private sector can be involved within the rules of the Canada Health Act."

Critics declared Thursday's developments a victory for Albertans.

"I would say this is a victory and we should take it as such," the province's Liberal health critic Laurie Blakeman said. "I would like to thank all the Albertans who joined with us to fight the Third Way."

Blakeman said the government must now focus on improving the public system through better management and innovative ideas.

NDP Leader Brian Mason said the decision was "clearly a defeat for the Klein government.''

"They backed down because of a rising tide of opposition," Mason told reporters.

Klein, however, accused critics and groups such as Friends of Medicare of misinforming the public and leading Albertans to believe "that they would no longer be entitled to public health care."

Evans, meanwhile, said part of the government's new focus for reforms will be to ensure that Alberta has enough health-care workers in the future, which will mean improvements to training programs and recruitment.

Alberta plans now to introduce framework legislation this spring that will then be held for about a year for the next premier to finalize.

With files from CTV Edmonton and The Canadian Press