Alberta Premier Danielle Smith addresses a news conference in Ottawa on Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. Albertans are expecting financial restraint in Thursday's provincial budget. Premier Danielle Smith signalled a turn to less spending and more saving in a televised address last week. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
EDMONTON – Health care and education are to receive some of the largest increases in a restrained Alberta budget.
Finance Minister Nate Horner says the 4.4 per cent increase in the Health department’s budget is to be focused on improving access to doctors and reducing wait times in emergency departments, operating rooms and labs.
But a long-planned hospital for south Edmonton is halted, and there’s no date to begin construction on a stand-alone children’s hospital in the provincial capital.
Education will receive a similar increase, most of which is to be devoted to hiring new teachers and educational assistants.
Horner says a tax cut for lower-income Albertans that the United Conservatives promised during last year’s provincial election will be put off for two years.
Overall, the budget predicts a 3.9 per cent increase in operating expenses.
It forecasts a thin surplus of $367 million.
That could go up in smoke, as $2 billion the government has reserved for contingencies, such as drought and wildfire, is about a third less than what is forecast to have been spent last year.
Resource royalties are expected to shrink but will still make up nearly a quarter of revenues over the next three years.
The government will also put $2 billion into its rainy-day Heritage Savings Trust Fund out of cash left over from this year, but it anticipates no payments for the next three years.
It expects operating surpluses of $2.6 billion by 2026, but it will still borrow money to fund capital projects.
In a televised address last week, Premier Danielle Smith said she told Horner to keep spending increases beneath the rate of inflation and population growth.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 29, 2024.
