ALBERTA (CANADA) LEGISLATURE APPROVES $62 BILLION BUDGET FOR 2022-23.

By Chandrayee Roy Choudhury, Canada- Alberta's budget for the upcoming year has cleared the legislature, despite pleas from the Opposition to nix it.



If the United Conservative Party government sticks to its spending plan, and oil prices remain above $70 US/bbl on average, the province could have its first balanced budget in eight years.



"It's no secret that we inherited the highest-spending government of any across the nation," Finance Minister Travis Toews said in the legislature on Thursday. "And over the last three years, we have worked hard, across ministries, across government, to make responsible, surgical, thoughtful decisions to deliver more value for Alberta taxpayers."

The $62-billion budget includes a planned 2.7 per cent increase in health-care spending to help expand home care and continuing care options and tackle a backlog of surgeries worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. The government wants to contract more private surgical centres and they say this could help reduce wait times.