Provincial budget offers little for Indigenous endeavours

April 14, 2016.

The provincial budget tabled Thursday in the Alberta Legislature offered little for Indigenous people.

Finance Minister Joe Ceci presented a budget that “includes a plan to carefully control government spending to achieve more than $600 million in savings over the next two years.”

Part of that savings comes in the budget for the Indigenous relations ministry, which was cut from $195 million the previous year to $186 million. The majority of that shortfall will be realized through capital grants, which drop from $11 million to $3 million.

However, the government has allocated $3 million “to help build a

new relationship with Indigenous peoples and support initiatives in response to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.” There were no details offered as to what these initiatives will be. The ministry budget also provides $126 million for the First Nations Development Fund and $32 million for First Nations and Métis Relations.

Indigenous communities will also get funding outside of the ministry budget through revenue garnered from the small business income tax. Of the $3.4 billion earned through the tax, $195 million will go for adjustments such as assisting Indigenous communities, and communities relying on coal power to make the transition to new energy sources.

Under the Climate Leadership Plan, revenue raised from compliance payments from large industrial emitters and the carbon levy will provide $9.6 billion over the first five years of the plan and will fund investments to further reduce emissions and help households, businesses and communities adjust to the new carbon price. Supporting Indigenous communities to enable them to participate in all aspects of the Climate Leadership Plan has been set as a priority.

The province has budgeted $9 billion in a capital plan over the next five years to support municipal infrastructure. Of that funding, $892 million will go to affordable housing, which will also include housing for First Nations in support of the United Nations Declaration on the

Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The budget did include $33.5 million for Fort Edmonton Park, which will allow Fort Edmonton Management Company to develop the anchor of its expansion, the Indigenous Peoples’ Experience. In 2015, memorandums of understanding were signed with the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations and the Métis Nation of Alberta as a commitment to represent their respective peoples in the programming and capital development process when it impacts their historical and cultural narratives. 

Other highlights in the budget included stable funding for health care, including mental health; stable funding for social services, including Family and Community Support Services and women’s shelters; $25 million for new apprenticeship and training opportunities; and, $2.2 billion for green infrastructure, including transit, under the Climate Leadership Plan.

On Friday, Ceci met with creditors and the province’s DBRS credit rating was downgraded.

“Today’s credit rating downgrade is a disappointment. In the current environment, all jurisdictions engaged in petroleum production are facing ratings downgrades. We are also in a better position than some to manage these pressures, while we work to make Alberta less vulnerable to commodity price swings,” said Ceci in a statement.

Non-renewable resource revenue was budgeted at $1.4 billion in 2016-17, its lowest in 40 years. Including the Climate Leadership Plan, total revenue will be $41.4 billion in 2016-17, a $1.5 billion drop from the previous year and an $8.1 billion drop from two years ago. Revenue is expected to grow to $45 billion in 2017-18 and $49.6 billion in 2018-19.

With this budget, Alberta’s debt is expected to reach $58 billion by 2019.