Provincial spending comes up short for Calgary
Alberta's fiscal plan millions of dollars shy of expectations
Calgary will see some new provincial cash for the Blue Line LRT extension and Olympic Plaza/arts Commons revitalization projects this year, but not as much as the city was hoping for.
The Alberta government's 2024 fiscal plan, tabled by Finance Minister Nate Horner on Thursday, commits $43 million toward extension of the Blue Line LRT to a future station at 88th Street N.E. — the next step in a plan to eventually link the Ctrain network to the Calgary International Airport.
That commitment is $10 million less than the City of Calgary was asking for, but part of a $667-million commitment over three years to support local LRT projects.
The budget also allocates $7.8 million toward the Olympic Plaza/arts Commons transformation project, $89 million in capital funding to build the previously announced purpose-built facility for the Calgary Court of Appeal, and $39 million in capital funding for a new Calgary Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Some of the other Calgary-specific highlights in the province's plan include $55 million starting in 2025 for the University of Calgary to add more than 1,000 student spaces to increase its STEM program capacity.
Deerfoot Trail is to receive $524 million in upgrades over the next three years, continuing funding that was announced in last year's budget.
In line with the province's promise to prioritize health-care spending in this year's budget, many of Calgary's major hospitals and health-care facilities are getting a boost. The Bethany Continuing Care Centre is getting $103 million over three years to develop 420 long-term care spaces, while $70 million will go toward increasing capacity of the Foothills Medical Centre's neonatal intensive-care unit.
The Peter Lougheed Centre, meanwhile, will receive $67 million over three years to redevelop the hospital's emergency department, mental health intensive-care unit and laboratory.
Another recipient of provincial funds is the Calgary Cyclotron Facility. The centre will receive $48 million over three years to manufacture radiopharmaceuticals for cold kits, which can be used for diagnostic assessments of oncology patients.
The province is also doling out $700,000 to plan the relocation of kidney patients from the Northwest Dialysis Centre to the Richmond Road Diagnostic Treatment Centre, according to the budget package, and add 25 renal dialysis units.
Also related to health care, the Calgary Hospital Foundation is receiving $10 million from this year's budget to support women's health initiatives.
As for municipal infrastructure support, 2024 will see the Municipal Sustainability Initiative replaced by the Local Government Fiscal Framework. Through this new funding mechanism, Calgary will receive $224 million to support infrastructure improvements.
But many of the city's funding requests were excluded from the budget. In a letter sent by Mayor Jyoti Gondek to Premier Danielle Smith last summer, the city was asking the Alberta government to commit $225 million for an airport transit rail line connection, $127 million for the development of the Foothills Multisport Fieldhouse and $166 million for the Max North Central bus rapid transit route.
There was also no mention of additional financial support for Calgary's future Green Line LRT project, while the funding allocated for the Olympic Plaza/arts Commons renovation project was far short of the city's request, which was for a provincial contribution of $103 million.
Many of the province's other budget contributions related to Calgary this year were for previously announced commitments, including $330 million over five years to support the development of the future downtown event centre — funding that was confirmed last October for transportation, infrastructure and public realm improvements.
The budget also referenced the $4.16 million the government confirmed in December to hire 50 additional police officers to patrol the city's downtown.