It’s that time of year again. The finance minister is getting ready to announce the provincial government’s spending priorities for the next session. Here are some key things we’ll be looking for in Thursday’s announcement.

A focus on prevention

Many people have reflected that COVID-19 is a tale of two pandemics – where some can protect themselves and others cannot. As we navigate the future and a new era of treating COVID as endemic, paid sick days, particularly for certain lower wage front-line jobs, is one way to support Albertans now.

According to the Alberta Federation of Labour, about two-thirds of Albertans lack sick leave benefits from their employers. B.C., Ontario, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Yukon have all introduced legislation or adopted new temporary rules granting workers paid days during the pandemic and it’s time for Alberta to do the same and support employers to ease the transition.

Addressing poverty cuts downstream costs

Poverty costs Alberta tax payers and not just anecdotally. In fact, a study on the economic case for a poverty reduction strategy in Alberta pegs the added healthcare costs of poverty at $1.2 billion per year and the annual yearly external costs of poverty in Alberta as high as $9.5 billion.

Income support programs and Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) have a role to play, but reforms are required to make a bigger impact on the health and wellbeing of people living on low incomes. For instance, we recommend the Government of Alberta set targets for increasing benefits to ensure people can meet their basic needs and index them to inflation.

Affordable child care is still an issue

Recent changes to make child care more affordable have left some lower-income families behind in Alberta. Some lower income families continue to pay more than 20% of their income for child care.

A number of advocates have proposed actions to improve the program, which include subsidy increases at lower incomes, fee caps and the removal of out-of-pocket expenses all together. 

Addressing affordable housing

The affordable housing issue in the province is longstanding and the government’s current strategy - Stronger Foundations – outlines plans to increase affordable housing stocks.

The government’s current 10-year target is not adequate; we recommend they aim higher and eliminate the waitlist by that time. There are many ways to make this happen, like leveraging additional funding from the National Housing Strategy, but more importantly adapting the funding model of our health budget to recognize the social determinants of health such as housing.

Investing in transit infrastructure

Being able to travel easily to work and access basic services such as food, education and health is critical to our health and wellbeing. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities says every dollar invested in transit, produces $3 in economic growth. Investing in transit pays dividends and is an effective tool in reducing poverty.

We need to talk about the cost of living

Making ends meet is even harder these days because of the cost of energy, food and shelter. A recent study reported 44% of Albertans were within $200 of being unable to meet financial obligations and insolvency rates rose 6% in 2021. Women, recent immigrants and those in precarious work are even more affected by inflation and wages are not keeping up.

On February 16, Statistics Canada announced that inflation is 5.1% -  the highest rate in 30 years. Wages have only increased by 2.4% according to the labor force survey. Prices are rising faster than wages and hits those with the lowest incomes the hardest. Supporting affordable housing and providing indexing for those living on Income Support and AISH, can help lower income families deal with rising costs. Minimum wage policies also have a role to play.

Budget announcements come with big and splashy discussions of where funding is allocated. But, it’s often more important to reflect on what has been left out. As you watch the coverage of the announcement, pay attention. How will lives be improved and will investments actually enable us to build back our province without leaving people behind?