Provincial Government tables Balanced Budget

This year’s budget focuses on expanding health care capacity and getting more Albertans working. The UCP says there are challenges right now that include labour shortages in key sectors, youth unemployment, and barriers for under-represented groups.

“After many challenging years of economic and pandemic hardship, Alberta is moving forward once again. The government’s focused, responsible fiscal management and relentless pursuit of economic growth has put the province on a more sustainable fiscal trajectory,” says Travis Toews, Treasury Board President and Minister of Finance.

HEALTH CARE

The budget includes a historic investment in building health care capacity. In 2022/23, Alberta Health’s operating expense budget will grow by $600 million, for a total of $1.8 billion across the provincial system over three years.

There’s also a $750 million contingency for COVID-19-related costs aimed at providing the government the flexibility it needs to manage the pandemic as it continues to evolve. Some of the funding will be used to help the government address the surgical backlog caused by the pandemic.

“We promised Albertans a stronger publicly funded health system, with more capacity for surgery and better access – and this budget provides the resources to deliver,” says Health Minister Jason Copping. “I’m looking forward to working with everyone in the system to recover from the pandemic and build a health system that’s better than ever.”

$100 million per year to expand capacity and add new ICU beds.
$90 million to attract new family physicians to rural areas.
$6 million over three years to support 60 new family physicians practice in rural or remote communities
$64 million for Emergency Medical Services.

GETTING ALBERTANS WORKING AGAIN

Almost half of Alberta business are struggling with moderate to severe labour shortages. The budget includes plans the UCP believes will result in more Albertans working.

To achieve that goal, the government is investing more than $600 million over the next three years into Alberta at Work – an initiative that brings together new and existing programs to build Albertans’ skills to meet current and future labour market demands and, where necessary, attract more skilled workers to the province.

“Alberta’s continued economic recovery depends on all Albertans accessing the training and resources they need to find jobs in sectors facing skills shortages. Alberta at Work brings the government’s resources together and makes groundbreaking investments that aim to make Alberta’s workforce among the most skilled and highly trained in Canada,” says Jason Kenney, Premier.

A $171 million dollar investment in post secondary education is being made over the next three years. The money is being spent to expand student enrolment in areas with skills shortages. Approximately 7 thousand additional post secondary seats will be created in high demand fields like health care, tech, and engineering.

Steps are also being taken to make post secondary education more affordable by offering bursaries to support low income students.

RISING COST OF LIVING

Budget 2022 provides $666 million in operating expense funding in 2022-23 for a total of $2.6 billion dollars by 2024-25 in support of the child care agreement with the federal government.

There is also a plan to protect consumers from skyrocketing natural gas prices. The Energy Affordability Program will begin in October and run until March 31st, 2023.

Consumers who use less than 2,500 gigajoules annually will be eligible. The province expects this will include most households, small apartment buildings, farms, and small industrial operations.

A rebate will be triggered if the company’s regulated rate is about $6.50/gigajoule.

AGRICULTURE, ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Budget 2022 also aims to move forward job growth in sectors such as hemp, agtech and value-added processing, with 2,000 new jobs by 2023/24.

Supporting that is $37 million for Results Driven Ag Research this year, plus $15 million over three years for a new rural attraction stream, and $59 million over three years to expand the veterinary school at the University of Calgary.

“Great things are happening. To date, our $1.4-billion investment targeted toward value-added processing has led to 2,128 new jobs and $886 million in new investments,” says Nate Horner, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Economic Development.

“We anticipated this funding would create more than 2,000 jobs over the entire project and we are already past that initial estimate.”

Resources and Environment Capital Plan highlights

$750 million in agriculture and natural resources projects across the province that will help develop and protect Alberta’s distinctive resources and support environmental sustainability.
$272 million in funding for the Alberta Petrochemical Incentive Program (APIP).
$10 million over two years for the Clean Hydrogen Centre of Excellence (CH2COE) to support hydrogen innovation and technology.

VULNERABLE ALBERTANS

There is $118 million in capital funding, over three years, to implement the province’s 10-year strategy to improve and expand affordable housing.

The goal is to support 82,000 households in the next decade, an increase of 25,000 or about 40 per cent. Meantime, the AISH budget will be $1.4 billion this year, an increase of $12 million from a year ago.

Budget 2022 includes $30 million over two years to address barriers to employment as part of Alberta at Work. The government expects this investment will help about 10,000 new and existing clients gain employment and ultimately reduce the amount of time they are on income support programs.

Elsewhere in Budget 2022
• $22 billion to $23.2 billion annually for health services
• $8.4 billion to $8.5 billion annually for kindergarten to Grade 12 (K-12) education
• $5.4 billion to $5.6 billion annually for post-secondary education
• $7.8 billion to $8 billion annually for social services
• $2.6 billion by 2024-25 for the new Canada-Alberta Early Learning and Child Care Agreement (including $134 million provided in• $81 million in additional funding over the next three years for the Alberta Film and Television Tax Credit
• $40 million over the next four years for the Clean Hydrogen Centre of Excellence
• $9 million in 2022-23 to address the land titles backlog

More information about Budget 2022 can be found HERE

by Josh Hall and Regan Tate

Provincial Government tables Balanced Budget

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