Alberta NDP Leader Brian Mason speaks about a leaked report on Tuesday. (CBC)

A leaked document suggests the Alberta government plans to cut as many as 9,000 long-term-care beds and move seniors into assisted-living places instead, NDP Leader Brian Mason charged Tuesday.

The report on long-term care was prepared for the province by an Edmonton consultant and leaked to the New Democrats.

It speaks of a plan for a "significant reduction" in long-term-care beds, bringing them to about 20 per cent of the beds available for seniors.

The proportion is currently 40 per cent, Mason said, adding that reducing it to 20 per cent would translate into the closure of 9,000 beds.

In order to meet that target, many seniors will be moved into privately run, lower-cost assisted-living spaces, which the government hopes the private sector will build, Mason said.

"What will happen is that seniors who need long-term care, who need a high level of care, will end up in assisted living, where they don't get that care. And everything they need, from their drugs to any nursing care to their furniture, they have to pay for separately," Mason said.

Bill Moore-Kilgannon, executive director of Public Interest Alberta, speaks to reporters about a leaked government document. (CBC)

Bill Moore-Kilgannon, executive director of the advocacy group Public Interest Alberta, said the leaked reports show the province wants to deregulate and privatize the system.

"Long-term-care beds are under the Hospitals and Nursing Home Act … probably one of the reasons why the government is already talking about changing the nursing home act this fall is to be able to shift that out of our public health-care system into a private sector," he said.

The minister responsible for seniors, Mary Anne Jablonski, said the leaked report is actually a document from an advisory committee that included people from Alberta Justice, the Council on Aging and other seniors groups.

"No decisions have been made. We will look at having the right number of beds in the right places for our seniors," she said.

The Alberta NDP initially tried to obtain a copy of the report by filing a Freedom of Information request.

When the report arrived, entire sections were blacked out. The party wasn't able to find out what the report said until it received a leaked copy.

Mason accused the province's ruling Conservatives of lying to voters because they made a promise in the last election to add 600 new long-term-care beds.

"I have not seen a deception like this in 20 years that I have been involved in politics," he said. "It is unconscionable."