Alberta Budget: Critics question increased provincial spending

The 2026-27 provincial budget is expected to carry a multi-billion-dollar deficit. Expenses this year are expected to climb to $79B.

Alberta is expected to post a multibillion-dollar deficit when the provincial budget is tabled Thursday afternoon, but some are already slamming Danielle Smith’s government for what they call years of wasteful spending.

While plunging resource revenue and a growing population are both reasons for what’s anticipated to be a tough budget, overall provincial expenses have been climbing for years, too.

“Albertans should be clear that the province of Alberta chose to increase spending, especially in budgets 2022 and 2023, largely because royalty revenues were high,” said Trevor Tombe, an economics professor with the University of Calgary.

“We spent a windfall. That was a choice we made; it wasn’t something that was imposed on us,” he added.

Critics point to several questionable costs and missteps from the provincial government in recent years.

Among those, the premier’s office budget increased by $4.8 million last year; $70 million was spent on children’s pain medication, then it cost another $718,000 to destroy some of the expired and unused supply; Alberta paid out $238 million to two coal companies in legal settlements, with two more settlements likely still to come; and $163 million has been paid out to parents for support during the teacher’s strike, with that total expected to climb even higher as well.

The province says the spending has been needed and justified.

Smith, speaking Wednesday, also brought up decisions made by previous governments and a lower cost of living in Alberta as reasons why the province is in a difficult spot.

“You inherit a lot of decisions that have been made by your predecessor when you come into this position, and we’ve had successive governments make certain decisions that put us in a position where we’ve got quite a large reliance on our resource revenues,” Smith said.

“It was a choice that was made because we wanted to keep our tax environment low.”

Alberta’s projected expenses in the 2025-26 fiscal year are forecasted to reach $79.4 billion—about $10 billion more than Alberta’s provincial spending a decade ago.

“There is a lack of prioritization of wants versus needs, and they have it mixed up. They need to be focusing on the needs of the province instead,” said Peter Guthrie, a former UCP MLA who now leads the Progressive Tory Party.

“There are cuts that are being made to municipalities, to those with disabilities, to municipal policing, to legal aid, but yet they’re increasing spending in other areas.”

While expenses have continued to climb, per capita spending has decreased under the UCP.

The last Smith budget (2024-25) contained per capita spending of $15,400.

When adjusted for inflation and population growth, spending per person in 2016-17—the first budget under Rachel Notley’s government—amounted to $16,115.

Alberta’s Budget 2026 will be tabled on Thursday afternoon.