Alberta budget set for Feb. 28, with focus on funding for health, school growth
Alberta Finance Minister Travis Toews says the United Conservative Party government's 2023 budget will be delivered on Feb. 28, the first day of the spring legislature sitting.
Toews said Friday it will focus on investing in health care and school enrolment growth.
It's expected to be the final budget before voters go to the polls for a scheduled May 29 general election.
Alberta's fortunes, powered mainly by energy revenues and further diversification of its economy, have been on the upswing since the global economy began rebounding from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last fall, Toews announced the current budget year, which finishes at the end of March, is expected to record a $12.3-billion surplus.
That surplus comes even with $2.8 billion being set aside over the next three years to cover inflation-fighting programs and payouts to shield Albertans -- particularly families, seniors and the vulnerable -- from higher costs.
Toews said while energy prices remain volatile, the outlook is for them to stay strong.
“This budget will reflect the fact that health care is a priority, that health care capacity is a priority, ” said Toews in an interview.
“Alberta is leading the nation on net-inflow migration,” he added.
“Our population is growing. Our enrolment in our K-12 education system is growing, and the budget will reflect that good news story with additional enrolment growth.”
One outstanding question after the budget will be whether Toews will run again in the May vote.
He is a first-term UCP member representing Grande Prairie-Wapiti.
Toews declined to say whether he has made a decision.
“I'll have more to say on that one later,” he said, “I'm focused on preparing the budget.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 27, 2023.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Competition bureau finds 'substantial' anti-competitive effects with proposed Bunge-Viterra merger
The proposed merger of agricultural giants Viterra and Bunge is raising competition concerns from the federal government.
Douglas DC-4 plane with 2 people on board crashes into river outside Fairbanks, Alaska
A Douglas C-54 Skymaster airplane crashed into the Tanana River near Fairbanks on Tuesday, Alaska State Troopers said.
BREAKING Mounties will not be charged in shooting death of B.C. Indigenous man
Three Mounties in British Columbia will not face charges in the killing of a 38-year-old Indigenous man on Vancouver Island in 2021.
Canada's favourite sport to watch is hockey, survey shows
The 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs have already delivered a fever level of fan excitement in Canada.
'It's just so hard to let it go': Umar Zameer still haunted by death of Toronto police officer
“It's just so hard to let it go. I mean, everyone is telling me, ‘you have to move on,’ but I know someone is not here [anymore]. So I don't know how I will move on." That’s what Umar Zameer, the man recently acquitted in the death of a Toronto police officer, told CTV News Toronto in a sit-down interview on Tuesday.