Alberta Minister of Finance Nate Horner speaks to reporters at a Mediicne Hat event Wednesday. (Kevin Kyle/CHAT News)

By Eli J. Ridder | @EliRidder

Medicine Hat getting denied federal housing fund symptom of Alberta trend, says finance minister

Mar 6, 2024 | 4:58 PM

The denial of Medicine Hat’s application to a federal housing fund is part of a trend that sees Alberta receive less cash from Ottawa compared to other provinces, finance minister Nate Horner said Wednesday.

“We are very concerned with the amount of dollars that Alberta is getting specifically from things like the [Housing Accelerator Fund],” he told reporters at a Medicine Hat and District Chamber of Commerce event.

“There does seem to be a pattern here; we don’t feel like we’re getting our fair share in most of these programs,” Horner added.

Medicine Hat applied to the $4-billion federal housing program last year and learned recently it was denied the cash it hoped to use for pricey projects incentivizing more residential development.

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While the city still wants to still work on the nine initiatives it put forward in the application, a development and infrastructure official said some of the projects could be impacted without the extra federal cash.

The federal government has not yet replied to a request for comment from CHAT News regarding the accelerator fund selection process.

Horner was speaking to business leaders and politicians at Chinook Village about the 2024 budget his United Conservative government tabled in the Alberta legislature last week.

“There’s an understanding that it was a challenging budget; we’re trying to address the most urgent needs in health and education and infrastructure while saving for the future [and] managing our debts,” Horner said.

“The size of the surplus being admittedly smaller than we’ve seen in the past has been a wake up call for folks that this year is going to be quite a bit tighter,” he said in reference to a $367-million accounting surplus the province reached through borrowing.