‘Not a priority’: Critics say Alberta falls short on health-care, education spending

EDMONTON — Critics say the Alberta government’s proposed health-care and education spending in its new budget won’t address long-standing problems in either sector.

“Public education, once again, with this budget … is not a priority with this government,” said Alberta Teachers’ Association president Jason Schilling.

“This government should be ashamed of themselves for, once again, short-changing the students of this province.”

Alberta’s 2025-26 budget, tabled Thursday by Finance Minister Nate Horner, pledges just under $10 billion for K-12 education operating costs — a 4.5 per cent increase compared to last year’s budget.

The government’s own legislation limits annual spending increases to a rate of population growth plus inflation, which was set at 7.3 per cent for the purposes of Thursday’s budget.

The budget predicts the province will find itself $5.2 billion in the red by the end of the fiscal year, with multibillion-dollar deficits expected for the two years afterwards as well.

Horner said Thursday the deficit is largely due to expecting oil revenues to decline; looming U.S. tariffs the government is saving for in case of disastrous job losses; and more than $1 billion to make good on a 2023 election promise to give Albertans a break on personal income taxes.

Schilling said he recognizes the issues at hand but the government is trying to manage them at the expense of public services.

“But I also understand the frustrations of my members who are trying to meet the needs of students who come into their classrooms,” he said.

“We are delivering a service to our students in this province — we’re trying to educate them so that their futures are bright — and I don’t know how we keep short-changing them and see that that’s OK.”

Thursday’s budget also includes $2.6 billion in funding spread over three years for new K-12 schools, as well as $389 million over the same time period for school maintenance and renewal projects.

It also commits $185 million this year to hire more than 4,000 new education staff, including teachers and educational assistants.

Alberta plans to spend about $28 billion on its health-care system this fiscal year, an increase of 5.4 per cent or $1.4 billion.

Brad Lafortune, executive director of Public Interest Alberta, said not meeting the population growth plus inflation benchmark on health-care spending was a “recipe for disaster.”

“It’s going to go from bad to worse, and it’s already very, very bad,” said Lafortune, pointing to Alberta’s family doctor shortage and hospital emergency room wait times.

“The best thing that we can do right now in this uncertain time, geopolitically … is plan for the worst and what we need to do to do that is shore up our public services.”

Chris Gallaway, the director of Friends of Medicare, also said it was concerned about health-care spending, namely a lack of funding to address hospital capacity issues.

“Alberta urgently needs a capacity plan for new beds and a workforce plan to ensure we can keep our health-care system staffed and our facilities open,” Gallaway said Thursday in a statement.

“Today’s budget offers neither.”

The province’s proposed three year capital plan includes $11 million to continue planning and design work for a new Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton as well as $2 million for expansion planning at two other Edmonton hospitals.

It also includes just under $560 million for the ongoing redevelopment of the Red Deer Regional Hospital in central Alberta.

Horner, speaking to reporters Thursday, said the province has been trying to keep up with population growth but can only act as far its revenue allows.

“Ministries like Health, Education (and) Social Services are what we’re going to deal with first, and then everything else will be looked at after and I see it being that way until we catch up,” Horner said.

“We will catch up.”

NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi told reporters Thursday that Alberta’s health-care and education sectors are essentially receiving a funding cut.

“Albertans deserve a world-class education, but that’s not what they’re getting from this budget,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 28, 2025.

Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press