A roundup of Alberta budget discussions as deficit increases to $9.4B

The province announced Budget 2026 on Thursday, and while health care and education will see increased spending, Alberta will also run a $9.4 billion deficit.

The Alberta government tabled its 2026 budget in Edmonton on Thursday afternoon.

In it, the province forecasts a $9.4-billion deficit for 2026-27, an increase from last year’s $5.2-billion deficit.

Deficits of $7.6 billion and $6.9 billion are projected for 2027-28 and 2028-29, respectively.

Earlier this week, the Alberta government announced billions in spending for health and education.

• Alberta Legislature: Visit our provincial politics page for the latest news

Here’s everything that happened on Thursday:

No incoming PST talks, says finance minister

Horner maintains he’s not currently considering a referendum on a provincial sales tax for Alberta.

“I was born here, (and) that hasn’t existed in my time as an Albertan,” he told CTV News Edmonton Thursday evening.

“Albertans will have to become more comfortable with us weathering deficit years on their behalf.”

Political analyst Tom Vernon said the appetite for PST is “very shallow,” as the UCP government knows from previous history the discussion is a “political poison pill.”

“But there’s also that conversation about, how many times can we go back to that well, and how can we get off this resource royalty rollercoaster?” he said on CTV News Edmonton at Six.

Vernon said he doesn’t expect the Alberta government to lose many points for breaking its own rules about mandated balanced budgets.

“The analysis around (the mandate) was always, this is a nice political stunt, but it’s easily revocable when the resource revenues go down and they ultimately have to run deficits. I think that’s what we’re seeing here.”

As for increased spending on health care and education, Vernon expects the move to “quiet down critics,” but says Albertans will have to see concrete improvements in surgical and emergency room wait times, classroom complexity and other points of contention coming from this budget.

Hannah Kavanagh, CTV News Edmonton Digital Producer

NDP reacts to 2026 budget

The Opposition Alberta NDP criticized the budget, saying in a media release it “makes life more expensive for Albertans amidst already rising costs,” pointing out increases to property taxes and to fees for seniors living in continuing care, vehicle registration, small businesses and trade certification.

“There’s nothing in (the budget) that reduces people’s cost of living. There’s nothing in here that builds things that people need. There’s nothing in here that solves people’s problems,” Naheed Nenshi, leader of the Alberta NDP, told reporters at the legislature on Thursday. “This is a placeholder budget with a strategy of ‘cross your fingers and hope the price of oil goes up.’”

Craig Ellingson, CTV News Edmonton Digital Producer

How does the budget impact Edmontonians?

The average Edmonton homeowner can expect to pay around 13 per cent more in provincial property taxes in the coming year.

Mayor Andrew Knack told reporters the province’s 2026 budget was “status quo” for the city. While there were no significant cuts, there were also no plans for increases to address recent population surges, he said.

• Edmonton homeowners to face higher provincial property tax in Budget 2026

The overall funding pool for municipalities across Alberta dropped by $24 million, despite a group representing villages, towns and cities in the province advocating for a drastic increase to address infrastructure concerns.

The province is, however, restoring its grants-in-place-of-taxes program, with $20 million allocated to pay for its government buildings in cities like Edmonton.

Hannah Kavanagh, CTV News Edmonton Digital Producer

Advocates not impressed

“This budget is all about catch-up, but not real movement forward,” said Sandra Azocar, president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE).

Azocar said the province needs 15,000 more continuing care beds by 2030, and this budget only covers about 2,000.

“We all recognize that we are living in real uncertain times … but budgets are about choices and making sure we address some of the long-standing issues that have been plaguing our province,” said the union president.

Friends of Medicare say they were hoping for a more promising budget.

“Budget 2026 continues to roll out the government’s expensive and chaotic restructuring of public health care in Alberta, while doubling-down on their failing privatization schemes and pushing forward with plans for two tier health care in Alberta,” said a statement from the advocacy group.

Angela Amato, CTV News Edmonton Digital Producer

Finance minister on 2026 budget

Horner says the government, aware it’s projecting “significant” deficits, will review its fiscal framework “and likely amend it in the fall.”

“Technically, we’re not breaking the rule until the third consecutive deficit actually shows up in that year’s annual report, but it shows the work isn’t done,” Horner told reporters during a media briefing on Wednesday afternoon.

“There are three levers here for government and for Alberta, it’s revenue, it’s expenses, and it’s deficits. I’m sure it’ll bring forward a lot of conversations about where we go from here.”

$2.3B earmarked for Health Shared Services

The province is putting aside $2.3 billion of the 2026 health-care budget for a corporation that will centralize corporate services of Alberta’s four health agencies.

• $2.3B allocated to new crown corporation overseeing Alberta health agencies

This year’s health budget will see $34.4 billion in funding, up $2 billion from 2025.

Finance Minister Nate Horner said he won’t sacrifice public services to make the province’s $9.4-billion deficit go away.

Angela Amato, CTV News Edmonton Digital Producer

$9.4B deficit projected for 2026-27

Alberta is breaking its own fiscal rules.

Nate Horner, the province’s finance minister, said Wednesday the government plans to run deficits over the next three fiscal years– $9.4 billion for 2026-27 followed by $7.6 billion in 2027-28 and $6.9 billion in 2028-29 – after filing a $5.2-billion shortfall a year ago.

• Alberta budget slated to run in red for next 3 years as 2026-27 deficit balloons to $9.4B

It comes as the province pledged to increase spending in several areas, including health care, education and infrastructure, while it forecasts revenue from oil to bottom out this coming year before rising the year after.

Craig Ellingson, CTV News Edmonton Digital Producer