With the UCP, You Pay More and Get Less

After seven years of UCP government and four of those under Premier Danielle Smith, the UCP is projecting a deficit so large there is no path to a balanced budget. Despite estimates that we'll collect over $18 billion from resource revenue this year, the UCP government is projecting a $9.4 billion deficit for budget 2026 with no plan to return to balanced budgets in the future.

According to the UCP’s plan, the province must now grapple with a debt load slated to hit $109 billion by March of 2027 on the way to $138 billion by 2029. This UCP government will have accumulated so much debt that the cost of carrying the debt alone will be the same as what we are spending on public safety, mental health and addictions, and all environmental protections combined. With Alberta’s current population of five million people, the debt will work out to about $27,600 per person. It’s no wonder the Premier wanted to double the population of Alberta.

With the UCP, Albertans will have to pay more taxes too. Budget 2026 shifts provincial costs onto property taxpayers through the provincial education levy. It will increase by $1 billion over the next three years. Municipal councils will likely face criticism for this tax increase since they are the ones tasked with collecting the province’s education levy through property taxes. It is unfair, and the UCP knows it.

That’s not the only place Albertans will pay more. Budget 2026 makes life more expensive across the board at a time when costs are already rising. Fees will increase for seniors living in continuing care. Drivers will pay more to renew their vehicle registrations. Small businesses will face higher registration costs. And trade workers will pay more to get certified. While Albertans are struggling with rising costs, the UCP government is making life even more expensive, and then turning to referendums and talk of separation hoping to distract people from their government’s failures.

Instead of focusing on affordability or improving the public services Albertans rely on, the Premier has chosen to put her energy — and Alberta’s resources — into nine referendum questions and fueling separatism. These debates draw attention away from the day‑to‑day work of governing. They do nothing to address rising costs of living. They do nothing to address the growing classroom complexity. They do nothing to fix the crisis in our emergency rooms or the fact that nearly one million Albertans don’t have a family doctor.

Alberta’s New Democrats are focused on the fundamentals: diversifying the economy, building partnerships to expand exports, fixing health care, addressing insurance and utility costs, supporting vulnerable Albertans, and planning a sustainable financial future for the next generation. While the UCP fixates on referendums and separating from Canada, Alberta’s New Democrats are focused on making life better and more affordable for the people who call this province home.

Albertans deserve a government that uses our economic strength to better our lives. If the UCP won’t do it, it’s time for a new government that will.