Minister Wilkinson Highlights Budget 2023’s Investments to Deliver Jobs Building Canada’s 21st Century Clean Economy

April 12, 2023                 Edmonton, Alberta          Natural Resources Canada

Today, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources, was in Edmonton, Alberta, to highlight Budget 2023’s investments in clean technologies including electricity.  These investments will support Canada’s electricity sector to create good-paying jobs and deliver a net-zero electricity grid by 2035.

Budget 2023 includes $40 billion of historic investments in the grid. This vital investment will be delivered via:

• A 15 percent refundable tax credit for non-emitting electricity generation, electricity generation from abated natural gas, stationary electricity storage systems including batteries and equipment for the transmission of electricity between provinces and territories;

• $20 billion in low-cost financing from the Canada Infrastructure Bank; and

• Targeted electricity programs, where needed, to ensure critical projects get built.

Budget 2023 includes $3 billion over 13 years for Natural Resources Canada for the recapitalization and expansion of the Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways Program to support clean energy projects in local and Indigenous communities, renew the Smart Grid program and support Canadian offshore wind power. 

Canada has made a remarkable recovery from the COVID recession. Canada’s economic growth was the strongest in the G7 over the last year, and today, 830,000 more Canadians are employed than before the pandemic, including 128,600 here in Alberta. Inflation in Canada has fallen for eight months in a row, our unemployment rate is near its record low, and, supported by our Canada-wide system of affordable early learning and child care, the labour force participation rate for women aged 25 to 54 reached a record high of 85.7 percent in February.

Budget 2023 builds on this important progress.

To build Canada’s clean economy, the budget makes transformative investments to fight climate change and create new opportunities for Canadian businesses and workers. This includes significant measures that will deliver cleaner and more affordable energy, support investment in our communities and create good-paying jobs.

To make life more affordable, Budget 2023 delivers the new Grocery Rebate, offering targeted inflation relief for 11 million Canadians and families who need it most with up to an additional $467 for eligible couples with children, an additional $234 for single Canadians without children, and an additional $225 for seniors, on average. The government is also taking action to crack down on junk fees and predatory lending, lower credit card transaction fees for small businesses, reduce home heating costs and help Canadians keep more money in their pockets.

To strengthen Canada’s universal public health care system the budget delivers $198.3 billion, including over $25 billion here in Alberta, to reduce backlogs, expand access to family health services, and ensure provinces and territories can provide the high quality and timely health care Canadians expect and deserve. Budget 2023 also introduces a new Canadian Dental Care Plan to help up to nine million Canadians and ensure that no Canadian has to choose between taking care of their health and paying the bills at the end of the month.

With a responsible fiscal plan that will see Canada maintain the lowest deficit and the lowest net debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7, Budget 2023 will help to build a Canada that is more secure, more sustainable and more affordable for people from coast to coast to coast.