Alberta has announced its final numbers for the fiscal year that ended in March, and the bottom line is a $4.3-billion surplus.
Finance Minister Nate Horner says Alberta took in almost $75 billion in the 2023-24 fiscal year, powered by more than $19 billion from non-renewable resources and a higher tax take due to more people moving to the province.
Alberta spent more than $70 billion, more than expected, as the province worked to cover off natural disasters and revamp the core structure of its health system.
The province also grew the size of its long-term savings piggybank, the Heritage Savings Trust Fund, to almost $23 billion.
Debt servicing costs were $3 billion.
Horner says the province is setting a prudent course that has led to credit-rating upgrades from multiple firms.
“Our government has kept its promise to balance our budget and provide Albertans the services and supports they need,” said Horner in a statement Thursday.
“We will keep building opportunity so that our children and grandchildren can continue to benefit, grow and share in the province’s prosperity.”
The Official Opposition says Alberta’s health and education systems have worsened under the UCP.
“Albertans … won’t see the tax cut they were promised during the election,” said Samir Kayande, the NDP’s finance critic.
“While Minister Horner was boasting about a surplus today, there were no doctors available in Grande Cache. There are 29 partially closed hospitals across Alberta today. A rural community health centre is slated to close permanently at the end of this week. Our schools and post-secondaries are overcrowded and underfunded.
“Albertans are squeezed between rising prices and the lowest wage growth in Canada,” Kayande said.
— with files from Global News