Alberta budget expected to hold the line on spending
Hints from the premier and finance minister suggest Thursday’s budget will be marked by austerity, as the governing United Conservative Party makes saving oil and gas revenues a priority to protect Alberta’s future.
In a video released on social media this week, Finance Minster Nate Horner said the government will refuse to put off making the “hard decisions” needed to keep and build on Alberta’s advantages.
On Wednesday, Horner said people will see what he described as a responsible budget.
“I think it’s a great budget, all things considered,” he said. “We’re pretty proud of it. It’s a growing province, lots of needs and wants, but we’ve done our best to address them all and not do it on the credit card.”
Horner is expected to start reading the budget speech in the legislature at approximately 3:15 p.m.
The budget is Horner’s first as finance minister and the first since the UCP won a majority government in the May 2023 election.
Last week, Premier Danielle Smith used a pre-recorded television address to dampen Albertans’ expectations.
She said the province will trim spending and embark on an ambitious plan to bulk up the Heritage Trust Savings Plan to between $250 billion and $400 billion by 2050.
She also delayed implementation of her election campaign promise to create a new eight-per-cent tax rate on income under $60,000.
NDP Leader Rachel Notley said Wednesday that population and the inflation rate work out to about an eight per cent increase in spending so she is concerned about what Smith’s benchmark will mean for Albertans.
Notley said Alberta schools already have the lowest per-capita funding in Canada. Holding the line on spending in health care is the last thing the province needs, she added. Notley said other provincial governments have shored up their health care systems.
“This government is set to go in the opposite direction,” she said.
“So we’ll be watching that and calling on them to properly fund the programs and the care that all Albertans care about.”
View original article here Source