Mixed reaction in Lethbridge to Alberta's 2024 budget

Finance Minister Nate Horner says the numbers show previous, big-picture Alberta budget predictions are holding steady but there are some unpredicted changes under the hood.

Alberta's budget for 2024-25 foresees a slim $367 million surplus, with slightly lower revenues compared to last year's estimated top line.

Here's how the budget will impact Lethbridge, and what stakeholders have to say:

University of Lethbridge

The University of Lethbridge will receive $26 million to go towards a new Rural Medical Teaching School.

"Investing in a program that recruits local students and trains them locally will lead to more doctors practicing in rural areas," said Dr. Digvir Jayas, university president, in a statement.

"(Thursday's) announcement will greatly improve health outcomes for Albertans and access to family physicians.

Jayas went on to say the investment will transform the Community Centre for Wellness into a teaching facility for medical students, and will add state-of-the-art learning spaces.

"Renovating an existing building for these important activities is also a prudent investment and will accelerate the establishment of a rural physician training program."

The move will see the University of Lethbridge work collaboratively with the University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine.

"The goal is to train students closer to home, so that they choose family medicine and rural medicine as a career path," said Dr. Todd Anderson, Cumming School of Medicine dean.

"We know by having them stay in their own areas we can achieve that.

"Students will do their first two years of medical school in classrooms in Lethbridge, with collaborations between teachers in both Lethbridge and Calgary, and then they would do their last years of hands-on training and residency training in rural Alberta."

Anderson says around 75 per cent of those students are expected to stay in rural communities throughout their career paths.

There is currently no timeline in place for when the new school will begin operation.

City of Lethbridge

While the City of Lethbridge needs time to review the entire budget to determine its scope, Mayor Blaine Hyggen said in a statement that he's happy to see the investment made in the University of Lethbridge.

"City council and I will continue to advocate for the supports we need in our city to best serve our residents."

The budget includes $539 million across the province for water and wastewater infrastructure upgrades, something Hyggen has been advocating for on behalf of Lethbridge.

Lethbridge School Division

When it comes to K-12 education, the province will provide $9.3 billion for new schools and to help address large class sizes.

Lethbridge School Division (LSD) board chair Allison Purcell says the board will need time to analyze the numbers, but believes there are several potential positives with the budget.

"We are encouraged to see the government is addressing enrolment growth and is committed to putting more teachers in our classrooms, along with increased learning supports for some of our most vulnerable students," Purcell said in a statement.

The LSD was hoping the government would provide funding for modernizations and to build another elementary school on the west side. However, on Friday, the province announced that no schools in the city will be built or upgraded as part of the $2.1 billion in capital investments.

"Parents and kids deserve excellent well-resourced classrooms that are designed for 21st century living, and we know that we don't have that at Galbraith (Elementary School), which is one of the oldest schools in the province," said Shannon Phillips, MLA for Lethbridge-West and the Alberta NDP finance critic.

"We know we don't have that at St. Francis (Junior High School) in our Catholic system, which I toured last spring, which is an ancient building in a dire need of modernization. Those are the two most pressing needs in our city.”

Holy Spirit Catholic Division

The Holy Spirit Catholic School Division says it needs more time to study the budget to better understand where the funding will be allocated.

Health spending is up by 4.4 per cent amid plans to divide Alberta Health Services into new departments.

Chinook Regional Hospital

In the lead up to the 2023 election, the UCP said it would invest in a study looking at creating a catheterization lab at the Chinook Regional Hospital, but Philips says that money was not in the budget.

"I asked yesterday to the officials where that money is, they could not tell me," she said. "Meaning the UCP lied in order to get elected. They lied to this community."

"But more to the point, there is nothing in this budget for any kind of expansion of cardiac services at (Chinook Regional Hospital), meaning that the UCP lied in order to get elected."