According to a local MLA funding announcements made in the proposed provincial budget are adding to announcements made in previous budgets for Lethbridge based projects.
Minister of Affordability and Utilities and UCP MLA for Lethbridge – East Nathan Neudorf explained it is common to initiate a program and get it started, however, it is another thing to continue to provide the funding that grows and sustains that program.
“Everything starts somewhere, and this is just a commitment, a fiscal responsibility to continue to grow really good programs and make sure that they not only take off but continue to fly over the next few years,” Neudorf said.
In Budget 2025 the provincial government has announced they will be increasing the funding for the Rural Medical Training program from $5 million to $39 million over three years, which he explained will help address the issues of getting doctors into rural communities and areas.
“Proven programs from British Columbia to Ontario have shown that if you train doctors rurally, way more of them tend to live there. So we’re very fortunate at the U of L to have a rural medical training program… [It’s] great to get that funded and up and running. That’s going to graduate, I think, 20 doctors a year pretty quickly as that gets going.”
“There is also continued growing investment in our cardiac and ICU capacity. One million this year, $5 million over the next three. Again, a funding program to help patients, particularly cardiac patients, get more care in Lethbridge and then renal dialysis, that was an announcement we made a couple of years ago, $7 million in this budget, going up to $22 million over the next three years.”
The minister explained that renal dialysis funding is a positive for southern Alberta because it is a common medical need and being able to increase that growth in Chinook Regional Hospital will keep patients from having to drive to Calgary, especially during the winter months.
“They can get a lot more of those treatments right at home in Lethbridge.”
Another announcement made in the budget was an income tax cut for those who earn up to $60,000. Neudorf said this is the largest affordability measure the provincial government has in Budget 2025.
“To give some context, a couple of years ago, we managed to provide Albertans with an affordability payment, which was a $2 billion one-time rebate to Albertans. Significant, meaningful, but this is going to be $1.2 billion of Albertans money staying in their pocket every year with this income tax cut.”
He said for an average person in that lower-income bracket it will save them roughly $750 a year and the average family or two-income household will save roughly $1,500 per year.
Related story: ‘There’s not much in there for southern Alberta’: Miyashiro says Budget 2025 does not help Albertans
