Alberta
Legal Aid Alberta gets a $70-million boost
From the Province of Alberta
Ensuring Albertans have access to justice
October 11, 2018
The Alberta government is increasing support for legal aid to ensure low-income and vulnerable Albertans can access the justice system for years to come.
A $70-million increase over four years will allow Legal Aid Alberta, which manages the province’s legal aid program, to broaden access, improve services and meet future demand. Last year, over 60,000 Albertans accessed Legal Aid, with more than a third of those cases serving family matters. The funding will also make Alberta’s legal system more efficient by minimizing delays and reducing court backlogs.
“Legal aid helps people in some of the most trying periods of their lives. Whether it’s a parent fighting for child support, or a survivor of domestic violence fleeing an abusive partner, fairness before the courts shouldn’t depend on the size of a person’s bank account. That’s why we’ve increased funding for legal aid, to make sure it’s there when Albertans need it and that our justice system works for everyone.”
The funding increase supports a new governance agreement with Legal Aid Alberta and the Law Society of Alberta. Under the agreement, Legal Aid Alberta will focus on streamlining application and referral processes and determining how best to provide clients with the right service at the right time. This includes making legal information and advice available at all first appearance bail hearings, and offering phone and in-person legal help for family law matters.
“A properly funded legal aid program is critical to a fair, effective and accessible justice system. We have negotiated a new legal aid governance agreement that provides this critical program with stable and predictable funding now and into the future. By reversing decades of underfunding in Alberta’s legal aid program, we are helping to ensure all Albertans can access legal services.”
“This new agreement provides a clear mandate and sustainable funding that enables us to increase access to justice for all Albertans, and the flexibility to contribute to a more efficient justice system. The renewed spirit of collaboration with our partners and stakeholders allows us to work more closely to innovate and improve our service, and ensure Albertans receive tremendous value for dollar.”
“The Law Society is in a unique position to see how many struggle to find legal help. This is why our collaboration with the government and Legal Aid Alberta was so important in developing a new Legal Aid Governance Agreement. We are proud of the innovative framework that will help Legal Aid deliver legal services in a way that improves the protection and representation of vulnerable and disadvantaged Albertans.”
“This agreement represents marked and significant improvement to the legal aid plan in Alberta and creates needed funding stability. The Government of Alberta has listened to and addressed the concerns of crucial stakeholders in the legal aid system. Many Albertans will benefit from this new agreement and we are confident that this investment in legal aid will make a significant positive impact on the justice system in Alberta.”
Recognizing that legal aid is a crucial part of the justice system, the government began negotiations on a new governance agreement in September 2017. A review of legal aid helped inform the new agreement, and included feedback from a wide range of justice system and legal community stakeholders. The previous governance agreement was set to expire in 2019.
Quick facts
- This funding boost means that the Alberta government has increased Legal Aid funding by 72 per cent since 2015.
- Legal Aid Alberta is receiving an additional $14.8 million for 2018-19. This increases the total operating grant to $104.1 million for 2018-19.
- By 2021-22, the total operating grant will be $110.4 million.
- The Alberta government, Legal Aid Alberta and the Law Society of Alberta are part of a tripartite agreement for providing essential legal aid services for low-income and vulnerable Albertans.
Alberta
Federal taxes increasing for Albertans in 2025: Report
From the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
By Kris Sims
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation released its annual New Year’s Tax Changes report today to highlight major tax changes in 2025.
The key provincial tax change expected for Alberta is a reduction in the income tax rate.
“The Alberta government promised to reduce our lowest income tax bracket from 10 down to eight per cent and we expect the government to keep that promise in the new year,” said Kris Sims, CTF Alberta Director. “The United Conservatives said this provincial income tax cut would save families about $1,500 each and Alberta families need that kind of tax relief right now.
“Premier Danielle Smith promised to cut taxes and Albertans expect her to deliver.”
Albertans will see several federal tax hikes coming from Ottawa in 2025.
Payroll taxes: The federal government is raising the mandatory Canada Pension Plan and Employment Insurance contributions in 2025. These payroll tax increases will cost a worker up to an additional $403 next year.
Federal payroll taxes (CPP and EI tax) will cost a worker making $81,200 or more $5,507 in 2025. Their employer will also be forced to pay $5,938.
Carbon tax: The federal carbon tax is increasing to about 21 cents per litre of gasoline, 25 cents per litre of diesel and 18 cents per cubic metre of natural gas on April 1. The carbon tax will cost the average household between $133 and $477 in 2025-26, even after the rebates, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer.
Alcohol taxes: Federal alcohol taxes will increase by two per cent on April 1. This alcohol tax hike will cost taxpayers $40.9 million in 2025-26, according to Beer Canada.
Following Budget 2024, the federal government also increased capital gains taxes and imposed a digital services tax and an online streaming tax.
Temporary Sales Tax Holiday: The federal government announced a two month sales tax holiday on certain items like pre-made groceries, children’s clothing, drinks and snacks. The holiday will last until Feb. 15, 2025, and could save taxpayers $2.7 billion.
“In 2025, the Trudeau government will yet again take more money out of Canadians’ pockets with payroll tax hikes and will make life more expensive by raising carbon taxes and alcohol taxes,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should drop his plans to take more money out of Canadians’ pockets and deliver serious tax relief.”
You can find the CTF’s New Year’s Tax Changes report HERE.
Alberta
Fraser Institute: Time to fix health care in Alberta
From the Fraser Institute
By Bacchus Barua and Tegan Hill
Shortly after Danielle Smith was sworn in as premier, she warned Albertans that it would “be a bit bumpy for the next 90 days” on the road to health-care reform. Now, more than two years into her premiership, the province’s health-care system remains in shambles.
According to a new report, this year patients in Alberta faced a median wait of 38.4 weeks between seeing a general practitioner and receiving medically necessary treatment. That’s more than eight weeks longer than the Canadian average (30.0 weeks) and more than triple the 10.5 weeks Albertans waited in 1993 when the Fraser Institute first published nationwide estimates.
In fact, since Premier Smith took office in 2022, wait times have actually increased 15.3 per cent.
To be fair, Premier Smith has made good on her commitment to expand collaboration with the private sector for the delivery of some public surgeries, and focused spending in critical areas such as emergency services and increased staffing. She also divided Alberta Health Services, arguing it currently operates as a monopoly and monopolies don’t face the consequences when delivering poor service.
While the impact of these reforms remain largely unknown, one thing is clear: the province requires immediate and bold health-care reforms based on proven lessons from other countries (e.g. Australia and the Netherlands) and other provinces (e.g. Saskatchewan and Quebec).
These reforms include a rapid expansion of contracts with private clinics to deliver more publicly funded services. The premier should also consider a central referral system to connect patients to physicians with the shortest wait time in their area in public or private clinics (while patients retain the right to wait longer for the physician of their choice). This could be integrated into the province’s Connect Care system for electronic patient records.
Saskatchewan did just this in the early 2010s and moved from the longest wait times in Canada to the second shortest in just four years. (Since then, wait times have crept back up with little to no expansion in the contracts with private clinics, which was so successful in the past. This highlights a key lesson for Alberta—these reforms are only a first step.)
Premier Smith should also change the way hospitals are paid to encourage more care and a more patient-focused approach. Why?
Because Alberta still generally follows an outdated approach to hospital funding where hospitals receive a pre-set budget annually. As a result, patients are seen as “costs” that eat into the hospital budget, and hospitals are not financially incentivized to treat more patients or provide more rapid access to care (in fact, doing so drains the budget more rapidly). By contrast, more successful universal health-care countries around the world pay hospitals for the services they provide. In other words, by making treatment the source of hospital revenue, hospitals provide more care more rapidly to patients and improve the quality of services overall. Quebec is already moving in this direction, with other provinces also experimenting.
The promise of a “new day” for health care in Alberta is increasingly looking like a pipe dream, but there’s still time to meaningfully improve health care for Albertans. To finally provide relief for patients and their families, Premier Smith should increase private-sector collaboration, create a central referral system, and change the way hospitals are funded.
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