Hundreds of infrastructure projects completed or underway throughout 2024 helped build Alberta communities, boost the economy and support thousands of jobs.

Throughout the province, Infrastructure worked in collaboration with industry, school jurisdictions, Alberta Health and municipal and community partners to deliver the new, modernized and well-maintained public facilities that house the vital programs and services Alberta families and communities rely on.

“This past year, we completed hundreds of projects across Alberta, providing growing communities with new and modernized facilities. We also passed the Real Property Governance Act, a piece of legislation that helps the government better manage assets for Albertans and ultimately provides better value for our tax dollars. As we move into 2025, our team is committed to delivering the essential infrastructure needed to support the demands of our growing and robust economy.”

With a strong outlook for Alberta’s construction market, 2025 is shaping up to be another productive year. Alberta Infrastructure remains committed to completing work on schedule and on budget, while maximizing the value of taxpayer money.

This past year saw a focus on further developing relationships with industry partners across various trades, backgrounds, specialities and sectors. In 2025, this work will continue through Industry Liaison Committees, roundtables and other opportunities that will maximize collaboration and productivity. Alberta’s future is strong, competitive and full of opportunity.

2024 Infrastructure highlights

Schools

• In September, Alberta’s government announced a generational commitment of $8.6 billion to build schools now. This investment will award up to 90 new schools and up to 24 modernizations or replacements over the next three years.
  • In addition, a new in-budget approval process has been introduced for school construction that will accelerate project progression through development stages, reducing project timelines by as much as six months.
• In 2024, 10 schools were built across the province, creating space for more than 9,600 students in nine communities, including:
  • Blackfalds, Calgary, Coaldale, Edmonton, Fort Vermillion, Grande Prairie, Langdon, Leduc and Wabasca-Desmarais.
• Entering the new year, another 82 school projects are underway, progressing through various stages of planning, design and construction.

Health Facilities

• As announced in Budget 2024, a modern, standalone Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton remains a key priority with $20 million budgeted over the next three years for early planning.
• Redevelopment of Calgary’s Rockyview General Hospital Intensive Care Unit, Coronary Care Unit and Gastrointestinal Clinic were completed in 2024.
• Renovations of operating rooms and support areas in Rocky Mountain House through the Alberta Surgical Initiative (ASI) wrapped up this past spring.
  • Through the ASI, 31 projects are underway in planning, design or construction in Brooks, Calgary, Edmonton, Innisfail, Lethbridge and Olds.
• Another 53 health projects are underway going into 2025.
  • This includes awarding the construction manager contract for the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre (RDRHC) this past summer and making progress on the new patient tower and redevelopment.
    • The procurement process for the RDRHC Ambulatory building is ongoing, with contractor selection expected in spring 2025 and groundbreaking in summer 2025.

Government Facilities

• The Lakeview Recovery Community in Gunn completed construction and was handed over to Mental Health and Addiction for operations.
  • Construction of the Calgary Recovery Community is anticipated to be complete in early 2025.
• The new $203-million Red Deer Justice Centre completed construction and will provide the community with 12 courtrooms when it officially opens in the first quarter of 2025.
• Another 20 new government facility projects are underway, such as recovery community facilities in Grande Prairie and Edmonton, and campus upgrades to the Yellowhead Youth Centre.

Capital Maintenance and Renewal

• Work done through Capital Maintenance and Renewal (CMR) helps upgrade existing government facilities and assets. In 2024, work finished on 85 CMR projects, including construction of the new reflecting pool and fountain at the Alberta legislature grounds in time for Canada Day celebrations.
• Another 212 CMR projects are underway at government facilities going into the new year, with an additional 516 specifically at health facilities.

Public-Private Partnership (P3) Awards

• In May, Alberta’s government completed construction of five high schools in Blackfalds, Langdon, Leduc and two in Edmonton. All finished on schedule, on budget and ready for the 2024-25 school year.
  • This bundle received a Silver Award for Design & Construction at the 2024 National Awards for Innovation and Excellence in P3s.
• Procurement is underway to deliver another bundle of new Alberta schools in Airdrie, Blackfalds, Calgary, Chestermere, Edmonton and Okotoks.
• The Evan-Thomas Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant in Kananaskis won Best Operational Project at the P3 Partnerships Bulletin awards.

Legislation

• In May 2024, Infrastructure’s Real Property Governance Act received royal assent. The act helps increase transparency and reduce red tape by creating consistent rules across government for the disposal of property and creates a centralized inventory of public lands and buildings to help government better manage these assets for Albertans.
• In November 2024, Alberta’s government introduced amendments to the Public Works Act (PWA) that mandate payment timelines and invoicing provisions for public infrastructure work, helping ensure contractors and subcontractors are paid fairly and promptly.

From the Fraser Institute

By Tegan Hill

In a recent CBC interview, Premier Danielle Smith said she would “love to be able to accelerate our tax cut,” referring to her campaign promise to create a new 8 per cent tax bracket for personal income below $60,000, before adding that her government might not be able to maintain a balanced budget and introduce the cut. Fortunately, there’s a way Smith could achieve both: eliminate corporate welfare.

First, some background on Alberta’s recent tax changes.

In 2015, the provincial NDP government replaced Alberta’s single personal income tax rate of 10 per cent with a five-bracket system including a bottom rate of 10 per cent and a top rate of 15 per cent. Due to this change (and tax changes at the federal level, which increased the top federal income tax rate from 29 per cent to 33 per cent), Albertans faced significantly higher personal income tax rates.

Smith’s proposed tax cut would reduce Alberta’s bottom rate from 10 per cent to 8 per cent and is expected to save Albertans earning $60,000 or more $760 annually. While this change would fail to restore Alberta’s previous tax advantage, it would be a step in the right direction.

But due to fear of incurring a budget deficit, Smith has delayed fully implementing the $1.4 billion tax cut until 2027, contingent on the government being able to maintain a balanced budget.

Which takes us back to corporate welfare.

In 2019, after adjusting for inflation, the Alberta government spent $2.4 billion on subsidies to select businesses and industries. (In 2021, the latest year of available data, it spent $3.3 billion, however the pandemic may have contributed to this number.) And that’s not counting other forms of government handouts such as loan guarantees, direct investment and regulatory privileges for particular firms or industries. Put simply, eliminating corporate welfare would be more than enough to offset Smith’s proposed tax cut, which she promised Albertans in 2023.

Moreover, a significant body of research shows that corporate welfare fails to generate widespread economic benefits. Think of it this way; if businesses that receive subsidies were viable without subsidies, they wouldn’t need government handouts. Moreover, the government must impose higher tax rates on everyone else to pay for these subsidies. Higher taxes discourage productive activity, including business investment, which fuels economic growth. And the higher the rates, the more economic activity they discourage. Put simply, subsidies depress economic activity in some parts of an economy to encourage it in others.

For the same reason, corporate welfare also typically fails to generate new jobs on net. Indeed, while subsidies may create jobs in one specific industry, they pull those jobs away from other sectors that are likely more productive because they don’t need the subsidy.

The Smith government is hesitant to introduce Alberta’s tax cut if it can’t maintain a balanced budget, but if the government eliminates corporate welfare, it can avoid red ink while also fulfilling a promise it made to Alberta workers.

Tegan Hill

Director, Alberta Policy, Fraser Institute