Alberta Government Fiscal Update

By Alexa Briggs, CCVO Director, Policy & Research

’The Alberta government provided a fiscal update yesterday, the first one from this government since assuming office a little more than four months ago. The update was given by Finance Minister, Travis Toews.

Nonprofits, as many others, were likely looking to the update to provide some clarity and certainty after the many funding challenges that we’ve been hearing from nonprofits in the last few months, some of which have been reported in media. However, this fiscal update lacked detail and will not provide any guidance as to what might be to come in the budget (expected in October). For example, there was no breakdown of revenue sources or spending by department. The Finance Minister did indicate yesterday during the press conference that Alberta is heading into a period of fiscal restraint, which has been widely anticipated in advance of the October budget.

We, along with other nonprofits in Alberta, continue to wait for the budget to get meaningful financial information and certainty to help the sector deliver much needed services to Albertans. Even once the budget is released in October, the full effects of the budget on the nonprofit sector may take some time to realize. While, of course, not all nonprofits in Alberta receive funding from the provincial government, the sector may feel the impacts of budget decisions more broadly than the bottom line of their own organization’s budget. CCVO will do a budget analysis and will monitor the impacts of budget decisions as they unfold.