Alberta budget 2023: What’s in it for Edmonton?

The UCP government released the 2023 provincial budget Tuesday, with funding focusing on health care, affordability, economic and job growth and safety. With a $2.4 billion surplus, the government has the ability to fund more projects than was possible with budgets in recent years.

Here’s a look at some of the spending the budget calls for in Edmonton over the next three years.

Schools

Education spending will be $8.8 billion in 2023 — an increase of 4.2 per cent.

Capital funding is set aside for the building of 14 new schools across the province, including Edmonton, with $372 million set aside for design and construction. A new school will be built in the southwest Glenridding Heights neighbourhood and one school in northwest Alberta town of Valleyview will be replaced.

Edmonton Public School Board chair Trisha Estabrooks said she was pleased the education budget has finally been “thawed” after years of it being frozen.

Edmonton Catholic Schools board chair Sandra Palazzo said the division was pleased to see support to address unprecedented enrolment growth, and looked forward to exploring “how increased transportation funding will help alleviate the pressures our contracted carriers are currently experiencing due to the ongoing bus driver shortage.”

As for charter schools, $42 million over three years will be invested into the Charter Hub, ultimately creating 2,000 new student spaces between Calgary and Edmonton. In addition, $32 million in new funding will go towards the acquisition and renovation of charter school buildings.

On the post-secondary level, 20 additional spaces for medical degrees will be created this year at the U of A, doubling next year.

1:07 Alberta Budget 2023: Province to create legislation requiring balanced budgets

Affordable Housing

The province is continuing to add healthy funding to affordable housing with an estimated $316 million over three years, including $202 million for Affordable Housing Partnership Program, $68 million for the Affordable Housing Strategy, and $46 million for Affordable and Specialized Housing.

An additional $54 million will go to the Indigenous Housing Capital Program to address demand for affordable housing and financial sustainability in housing for ongoing projects and new projects.

3:29 Alberta’s surplus 2023 budget ahead of an election

Hospitals

Planning for a stand-alone Stollery Children’s Hospital is getting $1 million, and the Misericordia Community Hospital Modernization Program will see $8 million.

The highest health funding of $34 million going to the expected southwest Edmonton hospital this year, with $300 million each of the next two years.

The facility has been in the works for the better part of a decade and is set to be built near Ellerslie Road and 127 Street.

Edmonton hasn’t seen a new adult hospital open in the city since the Grey Nuns Community Hospital in 1988.

1:42 Work begins on South Edmonton Hospital

Roads and Transit

An expected, $694 million in capital funds will go towards the LRT systems in Calgary and Edmonton, with a focus on the Valley Line West and a connection to NAIT for Edmonton.

Maintenance and construction of highways and roads will be supported through the Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI), with $14 million for 50th Street construction and a joint $127 million for ring roads in Calgary and Edmonton.

3:48 Mayor Sohi reflects on budget, LRT delays and his role in a Smith-led Alberta

Addictions Resources

Recovery communities that offering long-term residential addictions treatments across the province will receive $155 million between 2023-26, with new facilities being planned for Calgary and Edmonton.

“Three additional recovery communities are also planned; one will be located in Grande Prairie, one in Northern Alberta and one in Central Alberta,” the budget says.

Community and Acute Care

No funds are going towards the Good Samaritan Society this year, however $120 million will be split between the Good Samaritan and Calgary’s Bethany Centre in 2024 for a combined 700 new spaces.

Surgical wait times soared over the past few years, and the province will mitigate that wait with $39 million more funding going towards the Alberta Surgical Initiative Capital Program in 2023 than 2022, and $120 million in new funding

for new projects, including increasing surgical capacity to help reduce wait times.

There’s also a major drop in funding for the Gene Zwozdesky Centre (Norwood Redevelopment Project) with $44 million going towards the centre, compared to $72 million last year.

1:41 Alberta forecasts $2.4B surplus in election year budget