Alberta Advantage

We're setting an unprecedented path toward a new, innovative and diversified energy future while reducing emissions, supporting the development of ground-breaking technology and encouraging investment:

• Fighting for increased market access and protecting the value of our energy exports to grow our economy and create jobs.
• Implementing the Natural Gas Vision and Strategy and the Alberta Petrochemicals Incentive Program to capitalize on emerging opportunities and grow our economy.
• Implementing the Hydrogen Roadmap to ensure we are a key player in the global clean hydrogen economy and supporting our place as an international supplier of responsible energy products.
• Joining other provinces in supporting the development of small modular nuclear reactors.
• Leveraging Alberta’s natural geological advantages and furthering energy diversification by introducing a new minerals strategy.
• Helping Indigenous investors and communities be more involved in the energy sector through the creation of the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation.
• Making Alberta a destination for companies looking to advance their environmental, social and governance goals.
• Speeding up well, pipeline and site clean-up efforts in the oil and gas sector through the Site Rehabilitation Program.
• Working with our U.S. partners on a strategy to bolster energy security and independence.
• Developing geothermal related regulations and regulation amendments to enable the Alberta Energy Regulator to regulate the safe, efficient and responsible development of Alberta’s geothermal resources.
• Advancing the goal of national energy and resource corridors by establishing a task force to work with industry and other levels of government.

We're creating an environment where businesses in the rapidly-growing technology sector can flourish:

• Implementing the recommendations of the Innovation Capital Working Group.
• Launching the Innovation Employment Grant to incent growth and attract new business to Alberta.
• Providing more than $30 million to our post-secondary institutions to support leading-edge research in quantum computing, artificial intelligence and energy efficiency.
• Launching a technology and innovation strategy.
• Providing $35 million for business accelerators and scale up programming to help Alberta technology companies grow.
• Launching the Innovation Catalyst Grant to support recent STEM graduates in commercializing innovative science-based technologies.
• Providing $30 million to accelerate and grow artificial intelligence research, development and expertise in the province.
• Recapitalizing the Alberta Enterprise Corporation with a $175-million investment to support our technology companies and provide access to capital for early-stage companies.

We're growing Alberta's cultural industries over the next decade through targeted programs that support job creation and economic diversification:

• Removing the $10 million per project cap on our Film and Television Tax Credit program and investing a total of $335 million over the next 3 years in the program to help further industry confidence and support even more growth in the sector.
• Increasing funding to $8 million to the Alberta Media Fund, including an additional $4 million towards the Alberta Made Screen Industries Program.
• Strengthening the screen-based sector at the grass-roots level with grants for smaller and independent productions.

We’re building Alberta’s aerospace and aviation sector:

• Seeking partnerships and working with post-secondary institutions and private sector investors.
• Investing $5 million through the Aviation Skills Grant in 2023-24 to train the skilled employees the province’s thriving aerospace industry requires.

We're ensuring the agriculture sector and rural Alberta continue to be driving forces in our economy:

• Boosting Alberta’s competitive advantage through a new Agri-processing Investment Tax Credit that will help attract large-scale investments to grow the value-added agricultural industry and create more jobs.
• Implementing the Economic Development in Rural Alberta Plan so rural Albertans have more economic opportunities where they live.
• Participating in the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a 5‐year (2023 to 2028), $3.5 billion investment by federal, provincial and territorial governments to strengthen the agricultural and agri‐food sector’s competitiveness, innovation and resiliency.
• Expanding and modernizing irrigation infrastructure by partnering with the Canadian Infrastructure Bank and 9 irrigation districts for a record $933-million investment over 7 years. This will increase primary agriculture production, support a diversified value-added processing industry, improve water efficiency and storage capacity.
• Investing about $174 million more in Agriculture Financial Services Corporation in Budget 2023 to make sure farmers and ranchers will continue to have access to insurance and income stabilization programs they can depend on.
• Supporting agriculture research through Results Driven Agriculture Research by providing $38.5 million each year between 2023 and 2025 to make sure there are tangible results for farmers and a more abundant food supply at an affordable cost for consumers.
• Investing $24 million to expand the Agrivalue Processing Business Incubator to help more start-ups and established food business grow.
• Exceeding key milestones in the Agri-food Investment and Growth Strategy, attracting almost $1.5 billion in new agri-food investment and creating about 3,000 jobs for Albertans between 2019 and 2022.

We're building on our tourism sector that employs more than 82,000 Albertans, adds more than $10 billion annually to the economy and attracts people from all over the world to our province:

• Developing a tourism strategy to grow the visitor economy and support ongoing sustainable investment in tourism.
• Reducing red tape and regulatory barriers to growth.
• Issuing $71.9 million through Budget 2023 to Travel Alberta, a roughly 14% increase, to assist with its expanded mandate, addressing government’s additional priorities to grow the visitor economy, including air access expansion, rural tourism, enhanced marketing, and destination development.
• Providing $6 million over the next 3 years to Indigenous Tourism Alberta to help grow Indigenous tourism businesses across the province.
• Implementing the Air Access Expansion Strategy to increase diversification and growth of Alberta’s aerospace, aviation, and logistics sectors.

We're empowering Alberta’s industries to reduce emissions through:

• the Alberta-made, industry-funded Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) system, which invested $2.5 billion from industrial carbon pricing funds in programs that support emissions reductions and climate resiliency in 2009 to 2021. $800 million from the TIER fund is being invested over the next 3 years for projects and programs that are supporting jobs, cutting emissions and keeping businesses competitive.
• an internationally recognized methane emissions management framework
• further development of carbon capture, utilization and storage and other technologies (CCUS), in addition to the $1.8 billion committed to CCUS projects to date
• the Emissions Reduction and Energy Development Plan, which outlines and expands on Alberta’s practical and proven approach to emissions management and climate policy, and ensures that Alberta remains a responsible producer of reliable, affordable and sustainable energy.

We're reducing the regulatory burden to drive economic growth and support innovation, while saving job creators both time and money:

• Allowing municipalities to establish inter-municipal business licences so that businesses can operate in multiple communities without having to purchase a licence in each one.
• Establishing a “regulatory sandbox” for Alberta financial services and fintech companies to have a safe space where new products and services can be tested without immediately meeting all existing regulatory requirements, with the benefit of creating new jobs and exploring innovative financial solutions.
• Addressing labour shortages in skilled trades professions by making the apprenticeship system more flexible and responsive, and supporting enhanced classroom and sponsorship opportunities.
• Outlining a path to unlock Alberta’s untapped mineral resources, including a “one-window” approach to regulatory approvals and reduced compliance burden for industry.

• Alberta Petrochemicals Incentive Program provides grants to companies to attract investment in new or expanded market-driven petrochemical facilities.
• Site Rehabilitation Program provides grants to oil field service contractors to perform well, pipeline, and oil and gas site closure and reclamation work.
• Technology Innovation and Emissions Reductions System is Alberta’s approach to reducing emissions from large industrial emitters and keeping industry competitive.
• Agri-processing Investment Tax Credit provides a 12% non-refundable tax credit against eligible capital expenditures for corporations investing $10 million or more to build or expand agri-processing facilities in Alberta.
• Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership delivers grant programs that generate sustainable economic growth in the agricultural and agri-food sector.
• Agriculture Financial Services Corporation offers business risk management programs, disaster relief and lending support for producers and agribusinesses.
• Agrivalue Processing Business Incubator supports new food businesses and established food manufacturers.
• Results Driven Agriculture Research enables Alberta producers to determine priorities and lead agriculture research through connections with scientists, educational institutions and private industry.
• Innovation Employment Grant offers small and medium-sized businesses a grant of up to 20% toward qualifying research and development expenditures.
• Innovation Catalyst Grant offers entrepreneurial fellowship to support recent STEM graduates in commercializing innovative science-based technologies.
• Research Capacity Program offers post-secondary institutions and researchers grants to acquire small equipment and large research infrastructure.
• Alberta Innovates provides access to programs, funding, business supports and research facilities to accelerate entrepreneurship and technology-based innovation across the province.
• Major Innovation Fund supports transformative research and innovation excellence to advance Alberta's priorities and deliver results.
• Aboriginal Business Investment Fund can partially or completely fund capital costs for Indigenous community-owned economic development projects. 
• Film and Television Tax Credit offers a refundable Alberta tax credit certificate on eligible Alberta production and labour costs to corporations that produce films, television series and other eligible screen-based productions in the province.
• Alberta Media Fund offers a variety of grants to help support the growth, sustainability, competitiveness and business attraction of our province’s cultural industries.
• Travel Alberta Industry Hub provides access to focused tourism insight, resources, programs and opportunities.
• Agriculture Financial Services Corporation offers business risk management programs, disaster relief and lending support for producers and agribusinesses.
• Aviation Skills Grant provides funding to aviation sector employers to offset employer training costs for new and unfilled jobs.
• The Northern and Regional Economic Development Program offers funding to municipalities, Indigenous communities and economic development non-profit organizations to support projects that contribute to the economic development and diversification in communities across Alberta.
• The Alberta Economic Dashboard and Regional Dashboard provide useful economic data and insights to help answer questions about living, working, investing and doing business in Alberta.

We’re taking action to ensure Alberta’s workforce remains highly skilled with the expertise businesses need for the jobs of today and tomorrow:

• Investing in education and job training with more than $700 million to the Alberta at Work initiative, giving Albertans the skills they need for today’s job market and our future economy. 
• Investing $193 million to create nearly 8,000 new seats in high-demand post-secondary programs such as health care, technology and business to ensure students have the skills and knowledge they need to meet the labour market demands and enter Alberta’s workforce.
• Removing barriers to labour mobility to ensure skilled and talented professionals from across Canada can get to work quicker by recognizing out-of-province credentials.
• Encouraging people from across Canada to bring their skills to Alberta through the Alberta is Calling campaign, appealing to talented professionals in in-demand sectors such as skilled trades, health care, engineering and technology. 
• Attracting the best and brightest job-creating entrepreneurs and skilled graduates to Alberta through the Graduate Entrepreneur Stream and the Foreign Graduate Entrepreneur Stream.
• Making sure our province is ready to meet the increasing demand for highly skilled workers in all sectors of the economy through the Alberta 2030: Building Skills for Jobs strategy.

Investing nearly $23 billion in infrastructure projects over 3 years to support more than 20,000 direct and 12,000 indirect jobs through to 2025-26:

• Increasing funding for municipalities through the Strategic Transportation Infrastructure Program, adding an additional $50 million to support 70 priority infrastructure projects.
• Partnering with the Canada Infrastructure Bank and 9 irrigation districts to expand and modernize Alberta’s irrigation infrastructure.
  • At almost $933 million over 7 years, this is the largest one-time investment in irrigation in the province’s history, which will transform up to 230,000 acres and create more than 8,700 jobs.
  • Expanding irrigation infrastructure to increase primary production will support a diversified value-added processing industry.
• Partnering with the Canada Infrastructure Bank, the Municipal District of Acadia and the Special Areas Board to invest $7 million to continue planning a large-scale irrigation project in east-central Alberta that has the potential to add 108,000 more irrigated acres to Alberta’s current 1.8 million. 
• Pursuing alternative financing options and attracting private sector investment to help build much needed infrastructure, create jobs and stimulate the economy while making the most of limited taxpayer dollars. Five Alberta high schools will be built using a public-private-partnership (P3) model, which will save $114.5 million and create about 1,700 jobs.
• Investing in federal-provincial-local cost-sharing projects through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program. To date, more than 200 projects and project bundles have been approved for ICIP funding in more than 30 Alberta constituencies.
• Strengthening infrastructure planning using the Infrastructure Accountability Act and the 20-year strategic capital plan to guide budget and capital project priority decisions.
• Helping Indigenous community-owned businesses capitalize on opportunities to improve local socio-economic outcomes by expanding the Aboriginal Business Investment Fund to provide $23 million over the next 3 years.
• Taking steps towards building a provincial hydrogen economy and accessing global markets with $10 million over 3 years for the Clean Hydrogen Centre of Excellence.

• $15 million over 3 years through a partnership with Mitacs to support more than 3,800 internship opportunities to help promising students gain world-class research skills from industry professionals.
• $20 million to increase direct support for apprentices and invest in the organizations that promote apprenticeship and help these students gain critical on-the-job experience.
• $8 million over 4 years (2022 to 2026) to expand the Work Integrated Learning Industry Voucher program and create up to 1,600 Work Integrated Learning placements, in addition to the 650 opportunities already funded through the 2021 pilot.
• $8.7 million commitment in Budget 2023 to foster healthy campuses and support student mental health. This is the third year of its 3-year funding commitment for a total of $25.8 million.

• Graduate Entrepreneur Stream allows qualified international graduates from Alberta post-secondary institutions to apply for permanent residence if they want to establish or operate a business in Alberta.
• Foreign Graduate Entrepreneur Stream helps talented and qualified foreign educated graduates from outside of Canada to apply for permanent residence upon launching start-up enterprises and innovative businesses in Alberta.
• Work-Integrated Learning pilot program is creating new learning opportunities to help students get the job ready-skills they need, while providing employers with access to local talent.
• Women Building Futures offers training, mentorship and support for women considering a career in the trades.
• Women in STEM Scholarship supports women and gender-diverse individuals pursuing careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields where their gender is underrepresented or who are working to advance gender equality in their chosen field.
• Mitacs internship programs for Albertans offer hands-on learning opportunities for students to gain research skills from experienced industry professionals.
• ALIS is a self-service tool that provides Albertans with labour market information and advice to help them plan careers, find learning opportunities and gain employment.
• The Training and Employment Services Directory outlines programs and services to help individuals find and keep jobs, get training and adapt to a changing labour market.
• Municipal Stimulus Program provides additional capital infrastructure funding to municipalities and Metis Settlements for projects such as roads, bridges, water and wastewater systems, public transit and recreation, to support economic recovery and jobs.
• Strategic Transportation Infrastructure Program provides funding to municipalities for projects to develop and maintain local transportation infrastructure, such as community airports, local road bridges and resource roads.
• Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program allocates $3.66 billion from the federal government to invest in projects that strengthen our economy and get Albertans working.
• Public-private partnerships and unsolicited proposals encourages the private sector to come forward with creative financing solutions to help provide the infrastructure Albertans need.

• Providing quick, effective supports under Alberta’s Affordability Action Plan, the largest of its kind in Canada, to help Albertans cut costs and deliver relief to help families, businesses and vulnerable Albertans.
• Inviting Albertans struggling with inflation and the high cost of living to apply for the Affordability Payments program until June 30, 2023. Eligible applicants will receive up to $600 per person, including for dependents. 
• Expanding utility rebates, indexing personal income tax retroactive to the 2022 tax year, suspending provincial fuel tax, and providing targeted relief payments to families, seniors and vulnerable Albertans.
• Providing affordability grants for child care operators to lower fees for all parents.
• Expanding child care subsidy eligibility to save parents earning up to $180,000 even more.
• Albertans pay less in overall taxes with no PST, no payroll tax or health premium, as well as a low provincial income tax indexed for inflation that about 40% of Alberta tax filers don't pay.
• Providing funding to Calgary and Edmonton to support their downtown cores as energetic, healthy and safe places to live, work and play.
• Expanding rural broadband as part of Alberta’s Broadband Strategy so Albertans living in more remote areas can stay connected, support their livelihoods, and have improved access to education, health care and the global marketplace.  
• Supporting a wide range of learners across all forms of post-secondary education by:
  • offering student aid programs, including repayable student loans, grants, scholarships, awards and bursaries
  • capping tuition increases for domestic students at public institutions at 2% at the institution level from the 2024/25 year onwards
  • reducing the interest rate on student loans to the prime rate
  • extending the student loan grace period from 6 months to 12 months
  • increasing eligibility for the Repayment Assistance Plan

• The Affordability Action Plan is taking quick, effective action to cut costs and deliver relief to help families, businesses and vulnerable Albertans. 
• The federal-provincial childcare agreement has helped to reduce fees for parents of children 0 to kindergarten age by an average of half. By 2026, parents will pay an average of $10 per day.
• Alberta student aid options are helping make post-secondary education affordable and accessible, including:
  • $1.1 billion in Alberta student loans to help an estimated 131,000 students pursue post secondary education
  • $112 million in scholarships and awards to approximately 57,000 students
  • $69 million in grants to about 25,000 students