Province adding 50 permanent ICU beds to bring Alberta’s total to 223

Expanded health capacity to move Alberta forward

Albertans will have more access to critical care beds thanks to a $300-million investment over three years to expand health-care capacity.

Alberta’s government is adding up to 50 permanent, fully staffed intensive care unit (ICU) beds this year alone thanks to a $100-million investment in Budget 2022, an almost 30 per cent increase over current capacity. These beds will expand Alberta’s health-care capacity in order to prevent the system from becoming overwhelmed, a major concern during previous waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“One of my top priorities as Minister of Health is to build capacity in Alberta’s health system. While AHS was able to add surge capacity when needed during the pandemic, this is not a sustainable or prudent way to plan for the future. Adding up to 50 ICU beds this year alone, plus other ongoing efforts, will give Albertans better access to the health care they need.”

Jason Copping, Minister of Health

The new ICU beds will be distributed in all AHS zones across the province, with location details currently being developed. AHS will provide the government with a plan on where the beds are needed and how they will become fully operational.

“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, AHS has been able to quickly increase hospital and ICU capacity to meet demand. This is a testament to our incredible health-care workers and a system that is nimble, fluid, and able to evolve to meet the challenge of an ever-changing virus. These additional beds and staffing resources will help us continue to provide the excellent and timely care that all Albertans deserve.”

Dr. Verna Yiu, president and CEO, Alberta Health Services

“Our province needs to have the flexibility to meet our current and future health-care needs and respond to whatever challenges we face. It’s great to hear that my constituents may be able to receive more of their care at home, with Lethbridge as the focus for any new ICU beds added in southern Alberta.”

Nathan Neudorf, MLA for Lethbridge-East

A Sustainability and Resiliency Action Plan, created to ensure the health system can respond quickly and proactively to future waves of the pandemic or other health emergencies, recommends 21 capacity building actions, with surgical recovery and ICU and acute care baseline capacity the immediate priorities. The plan incorporates leading practice and lessons learned from other Canadian and international health systems.

AHS will now formalize a new baseline ICU bed capacity plan that includes detailed reporting mechanisms, appropriate workforce planning, ramp-up strategies and redeployment plans so front-line staff are able to support other parts of the health system when ICUs are not facing pressures.

A surgical recovery plan that builds on the Alberta Surgical Initiative will be announced soon.

Quick facts

Prior to COVID-19, Alberta maintained 173 adult general ICU beds in hospitals across the province.
The new ICU beds are expected to come on stream in the coming months.
EY was contracted to review details of how Alberta’s health system responded to capacity issues during the pandemic, and to compare the practices and lessons learned from other health systems across Canada and around the world. The subsequent Sustainability and Resiliency Action Plan includes recommendations to ensure the health system has the appropriate capacity to respond to potential future waves of COVID-19 and other health situations.
The 21 recommended actions in the plan have been developed across six workstreams: workforce; acute, critical care and surgery; primary and community care; governance and decision-making; public health; modelling.
A comprehensive review of Alberta’s pandemic response is planned.

Government of Alberta

This is a news release from the Government of Alberta.

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Low oil prices could have big consequences for Alberta’s finances

Published on April 26, 2025

Todayville

From the Fraser Institute

By Tegan Hill

Amid the tariff war, the price of West Texas Intermediate oil—a common benchmark—recently dropped below US$60 per barrel. Given every $1 drop in oil prices is an estimated $750 million hit to provincial revenues, if oil prices remain low for long, there could be big implications for Alberta’s budget.

The Smith government already projects a $5.2 billion budget deficit in 2025/26 with continued deficits over the following two years. This year’s deficit is based on oil prices averaging US$68.00 per barrel. While the budget does include a $4 billion “contingency” for unforeseen events, given the economic and fiscal impact of Trump’s tariffs, it could quickly be eaten up.

Budget deficits come with costs for Albertans, who will already pay a projected $600 each in provincial government debt interest in 2025/26. That’s money that could have gone towards health care and education, or even tax relief.

Unfortunately, this is all part of the resource revenue rollercoaster that’s are all too familiar to Albertans.

Resource revenue (including oil and gas royalties) is inherently volatile. In the last 10 years alone, it has been as high as $25.2 billion in 2022/23 and as low as $2.8 billion in 2015/16. The provincial government typically enjoys budget surpluses—and increases government spending—when oil prices and resource revenue is relatively high, but is thrown into deficits when resource revenues inevitably fall.

Fortunately, the Smith government can mitigate this volatility.

The key is limiting the level of resource revenue included in the budget to a set stable amount. Any resource revenue above that stable amount is automatically saved in a rainy-day fund to be withdrawn to maintain that stable amount in the budget during years of relatively low resource revenue. The logic is simple: save during the good times so you can weather the storm during bad times.

Indeed, if the Smith government had created a rainy-day account in 2023, for example, it could have already built up a sizeable fund to help stabilize the budget when resource revenue declines. While the Smith government has deposited some money in the Heritage Fund in recent years, it has not created a dedicated rainy-day account or introduced a similar mechanism to help stabilize provincial finances.

Limiting the amount of resource revenue in the budget, particularly during times of relatively high resource revenue, also tempers demand for higher spending, which is only fiscally sustainable with permanently high resource revenues. In other words, if the government creates a rainy-day account, spending would become more closely align with stable ongoing levels of revenue.

And it’s not too late. To end the boom-bust cycle and finally help stabilize provincial finances, the Smith government should create a rainy-day account.

Alberta

Governments in Alberta should spur homebuilding amid population explosion

Published on April 26, 2025

Todayville

From the Fraser Institute

By Tegan Hill and Austin Thompson

In 2024, construction started on 47,827 housing units—the most since 48,336 units in 2007 when population growth was less than half of what it was in 2024.

Alberta has long been viewed as an oasis in Canada’s overheated housing market—a refuge for Canadians priced out of high-cost centres such as Vancouver and Toronto. But the oasis is starting to dry up. House prices and rents in the province have spiked by about one-third since the start of the pandemic. According to a recent Maru poll, more than 70 per cent of Calgarians and Edmontonians doubt they will ever be able to afford a home in their city. Which raises the question: how much longer can this go on?

Alberta’s housing affordability problem reflects a simple reality—not enough homes have been built to accommodate the province’s growing population. The result? More Albertans competing for the same homes and rental units, pushing prices higher.

Population growth has always been volatile in Alberta, but the recent surge, fuelled by record levels of immigration, is unprecedented. Alberta has set new population growth records every year since 2022, culminating in the largest-ever increase of 186,704 new residents in 2024—nearly 70 per cent more than the largest pre-pandemic increase in 2013.

Homebuilding has increased, but not enough to keep pace with the rise in population. In 2024, construction started on 47,827 housing units—the most since 48,336 units in 2007 when population growth was less than half of what it was in 2024.

Moreover, from 1972 to 2019, Alberta added 2.1 new residents (on average) for every housing unit started compared to 3.9 new residents for every housing unit started in 2024. Put differently, today nearly twice as many new residents are potentially competing for each new home compared to historical norms.

While Alberta attracts more Canadians from other provinces than any other province, federal immigration and residency policies drive Alberta’s population growth. So while the provincial government has little control over its population growth, provincial and municipal governments can affect the pace of homebuilding.

For example, recent provincial amendments to the city charters in Calgary and Edmonton have helped standardize building codes, which should minimize cost and complexity for builders who operate across different jurisdictions. Municipal zoning reforms in Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer have made it easier to build higher-density housing, and Lethbridge and Medicine Hat may soon follow suit. These changes should make it easier and faster to build homes, helping Alberta maintain some of the least restrictive building rules and quickest approval timelines in Canada.

There is, however, room for improvement. Policymakers at both the provincial and municipal level should streamline rules for building, reduce regulatory uncertainty and development costs, and shorten timelines for permit approvals. Calgary, for instance, imposes fees on developers to fund a wide array of public infrastructure—including roads, sewers, libraries, even buses—while Edmonton currently only imposes fees to fund the construction of new firehalls.

It’s difficult to say how long Alberta’s housing affordability woes will endure, but the situation is unlikely to improve unless homebuilding increases, spurred by government policies that facilitate more development.