Alberta’s Age Gap in Government Spending Lies at the Heart of the Teachers Strike
As of 2023, Alberta spent about $16,700 per resident age 65+, compared with $9,900 per resident under age 45 — a gap of nearly $6,800 per person, larger than in Ontario or B.C. This imbalance has persisted ever since. In 2025, Premier Smith’s budget continues to add new funding for retirees nearly three times faster than for those under 45.
By underspending on the systems that shape younger Albertans’ education and housing, Alberta’s budgets have become structurally ageist against younger residents. This erodes the very foundations of the healthy society Alberta aims to build.
Alberta’s extra-large age gap is driven primarily by its inefficient medical spending. The province spends more per person on medical care than B.C. or Ontario, yet achieves worse results for infant mortality, heart disease, cancer deaths, and life expectancy. These billions aren’t buying better health — they’re buying the best-paid doctors in the country, without securing the best access to care.
Meanwhile, schools are left to make do, treated as a lower priority in provincial budgets. In 2024, the Alberta government increased health spending by $3.6 billion, but only $0.7 billion for K-12 education. In 2025, the imbalance persisted — $2.3 billion more for medicine versus $1.2 billion for education. The result: classrooms, teachers, and students shoulder the cost of budgets that prioritize treating illness over preventing it, even though decades of health science confirm that education is one of the strongest determinants of lifelong health.
Ending Alberta’s Ageism Against Younger Residents Can Start in the Schools
Addressing the concerns of teachers, parents, and students now on display in the strike is a critical first step toward dismantling the structural ageism that has become routine in Alberta’s fiscal policy.
Alberta’s prosperity depends on the wellbeing of its youngest residents just as much as its retirees. A strong budget would invest in both with equal urgency. Settling the strike is the first test of that commitment.
For further analysis of the age-breakdown of Alberta spending, we offer details on: