Alberta set to deliver final budget before expected provincial election in May

It’s budget day in Alberta — the last before an expected provincial election in May.

It’s budget day in Alberta — the last before an expected provincial election in May.

Finance Minister Travis Toews is to unfurl the spending document as the legislature begins its spring sitting.

The expectation is another multibillion-dollar surplus generated by strong oil and gas revenues coupled with higher payouts from maturing oilsands operations.

The province is expected to take in $12.3 billion in the current fiscal year that ends in just over a month. 

Premier Danielle Smith’s government has already announced a number of new spending initiatives in the budget, including $158 million for physician recruitment and $243 million for primary care.

Opposition NDP finance critic Shannon Phillips says Smith and the UCP can’t be trusted on health care, given they have failed to match spending with inflation and population growth while fighting with doctors and trying to cut nurses’ wages during the pandemic.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 28, 2023