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Alberta

Alberta Infrastructure reviews 2024 progress

Published

6 months ago

6 minute read

Hundreds of infrastructure projects completed or underway throughout 2024 helped build Alberta communities, boost the economy and support thousands of jobs.

Throughout the province, Infrastructure worked in collaboration with industry, school jurisdictions, Alberta Health and municipal and community partners to deliver the new, modernized and well-maintained public facilities that house the vital programs and services Alberta families and communities rely on.

“This past year, we completed hundreds of projects across Alberta, providing growing communities with new and modernized facilities. We also passed the Real Property Governance Act, a piece of legislation that helps the government better manage assets for Albertans and ultimately provides better value for our tax dollars. As we move into 2025, our team is committed to delivering the essential infrastructure needed to support the demands of our growing and robust economy.”

Pete Guthrie, Minister of Infrastructure

With a strong outlook for Alberta’s construction market, 2025 is shaping up to be another productive year. Alberta Infrastructure remains committed to completing work on schedule and on budget, while maximizing the value of taxpayer money.

This past year saw a focus on further developing relationships with industry partners across various trades, backgrounds, specialities and sectors. In 2025, this work will continue through Industry Liaison Committees, roundtables and other opportunities that will maximize collaboration and productivity. Alberta’s future is strong, competitive and full of opportunity.

2024 Infrastructure highlights

Schools

  • In September, Alberta’s government announced a generational commitment of $8.6 billion to build schools now. This investment will award up to 90 new schools and up to 24 modernizations or replacements over the next three years.
    • In addition, a new in-budget approval process has been introduced for school construction that will accelerate project progression through development stages, reducing project timelines by as much as six months.
  • In 2024, 10 schools were built across the province, creating space for more than 9,600 students in nine communities, including:
    • Blackfalds, Calgary, Coaldale, Edmonton, Fort Vermillion, Grande Prairie, Langdon, Leduc and Wabasca-Desmarais.
  • Entering the new year, another 82 school projects are underway, progressing through various stages of planning, design and construction.

Health Facilities

  • As announced in Budget 2024, a modern, standalone Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton remains a key priority with $20 million budgeted over the next three years for early planning.
  • Redevelopment of Calgary’s Rockyview General Hospital Intensive Care Unit, Coronary Care Unit and Gastrointestinal Clinic were completed in 2024.
  • Renovations of operating rooms and support areas in Rocky Mountain House through the Alberta Surgical Initiative (ASI) wrapped up this past spring.
    • Through the ASI, 31 projects are underway in planning, design or construction in Brooks, Calgary, Edmonton, Innisfail, Lethbridge and Olds.
  • Another 53 health projects are underway going into 2025.
    • This includes awarding the construction manager contract for the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre (RDRHC) this past summer and making progress on the new patient tower and redevelopment.
      • The procurement process for the RDRHC Ambulatory building is ongoing, with contractor selection expected in spring 2025 and groundbreaking in summer 2025.

Government Facilities

  • The Lakeview Recovery Community in Gunn completed construction and was handed over to Mental Health and Addiction for operations.
    • Construction of the Calgary Recovery Community is anticipated to be complete in early 2025.
  • The new $203-million Red Deer Justice Centre completed construction and will provide the community with 12 courtrooms when it officially opens in the first quarter of 2025.
  • Another 20 new government facility projects are underway, such as recovery community facilities in Grande Prairie and Edmonton, and campus upgrades to the Yellowhead Youth Centre.

Capital Maintenance and Renewal

  • Work done through Capital Maintenance and Renewal (CMR) helps upgrade existing government facilities and assets. In 2024, work finished on 85 CMR projects, including construction of the new reflecting pool and fountain at the Alberta legislature grounds in time for Canada Day celebrations.
  • Another 212 CMR projects are underway at government facilities going into the new year, with an additional 516 specifically at health facilities.

Public-Private Partnership (P3) Awards

  • In May, Alberta’s government completed construction of five high schools in Blackfalds, Langdon, Leduc and two in Edmonton. All finished on schedule, on budget and ready for the 2024-25 school year.
  • Procurement is underway to deliver another bundle of new Alberta schools in Airdrie, Blackfalds, Calgary, Chestermere, Edmonton and Okotoks.
  • The Evan-Thomas Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant in Kananaskis won Best Operational Project at the P3 Partnerships Bulletin awards.

Legislation

  • In May 2024, Infrastructure’s Real Property Governance Act received royal assent. The act helps increase transparency and reduce red tape by creating consistent rules across government for the disposal of property and creates a centralized inventory of public lands and buildings to help government better manage these assets for Albertans.
  • In November 2024, Alberta’s government introduced amendments to the Public Works Act (PWA) that mandate payment timelines and invoicing provisions for public infrastructure work, helping ensure contractors and subcontractors are paid fairly and promptly.
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This is a news release from the Government of Alberta.

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Cross-Canada NGL corridor will stretch from B.C. to Ontario

Published on July 12, 2025

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Keyera Corp.’s natural gas liquids facilities in Fort Saskatchewan. Photo courtesy Keyera Corp.

From the Canadian Energy Centre

By Will Gibson

Keyera ‘Canadianizes’ natural gas liquids with $5.15 billion acquisition

Sarnia, Ont., which sits on the southern tip of Lake Huron and peers across the St. Clair River to Michigan, is a crucial energy hub for much of the eastern half of Canada and parts of the United States.

With more than 60 industrial facilities including refineries and chemical plants that produce everything from petroleum, resins, synthetic rubber, plastics, lubricants, paint, cosmetics and food additives in the southwestern Ontario city, Mayor Mike Bradley admits the ongoing dialogue about tariffs with Canada’s southern neighbour hits close to home.

So Bradley welcomed the announcement that Calgary-based Keyera Corp. will acquire the majority of Plains American Pipelines LLP’s Canadian natural gas liquids (NGL) business, creating a cross-Canada NGL corridor that includes a storage hub in Sarnia.

“As a border city, we’ve been on the frontline of the tariff wars, so we support anything that helps enhance Canadian sovereignty and jobs,” says the long-time mayor, who was first elected in 1988.

The assets in Sarnia are a key piece of the $5.15 billion transaction, which will connect natural gas liquids from the growing Montney and Duvernay plays in B.C. and Alberta to markets in central Canada and the eastern U.S. seaboard.

Map courtesy Keyera Corp.

NGLs are hydrocarbons found within natural gas streams including ethane, propane and pentanes. They are important energy sources and used to produce a wide range of everyday items, from plastics and clothing to fuels.

Keyera CEO Dean Setoguchi cast the proposed acquisition as an act of repatriation.

“This transaction brings key NGL infrastructure under Canadian ownership, enhancing domestic energy capabilities and reinforcing Canada’s economic resilience by keeping value and decision-making closer to home,” Setoguchi told analysts in a June 17 call.

“Plains’ portfolio forms a fully integrated cross Canada NGL system connecting Western Canada supply to key demand centres across the Prairie provinces, Ontario and eastern U.S.,” he said.

“The system includes strategic hubs like Empress, Fort Saskatchewan and Sarnia – which provide a reliable source of Canadian NGL supply to extensive fractionation, storage, pipeline and logistics infrastructure.”

Martin King, RBN Energy’s managing director of North America Energy Market Analysis, sees Keyera’s ability to “Canadianize” its NGL infrastructure as improving the company’s growth prospects.

“It allows them to tap into the Duvernay and Montney, which are the fastest growing NGL plays in North America and gives them some key assets throughout the country,” said the Calgary-based analyst.

“The crown assets are probably the straddle plants in Empress, which help strip out the butane, ethane and other liquids for condensate. It also positions them well to serve the eastern half of the country.”

And that’s something welcomed in Sarnia.

“Having a Canadian source for natural gas would be our preference so we see Keyera’s acquisition as strengthening our region as an energy hub,” Bradley said.

“We are optimistic this will be good for our region in the long run.”

The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, pending regulatory approvals.

Meanwhile, the governments of Ontario and Alberta are joining forces to strengthen the economies of both regions, and the country, by advancing major infrastructure projects including pipelines, ports and rail.

A joint feasibility study is expected this year on how to move major private sector-led investments forward.

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Alberta

Alberta school boards required to meet new standards for school library materials with regard to sexual content

Published on July 10, 2025

By

Alberta’s government has introduced new standards to ensure school library materials are age-appropriate.

School libraries should be safe and supportive places where students can learn and explore without being exposed to inappropriate sexual content. However, in the absence of a consistent standard for selecting age-appropriate library materials, school boards have taken different approaches, leading to concerns about safeguards in place.

In response to these concerns, and informed by feedback from education partners and the public, Alberta’s government has created standards to provide school boards with clear direction on the selection, availability and access to school library materials, such as books.

“Our actions to ensure that materials in school libraries don’t expose children to sexual content were never about banning books. These new standards are to ensure that school boards have clear guidance to ensure age-appropriate access to school library materials, while reflecting the values and priorities of Albertans.”

Demetrios Nicolaides, Minister of Education and Childcare

The new standards set clear expectations for school library materials with regard to sexual content and require school boards to implement policies to support these standards.

Standards for school library materials

Under the new standards, school libraries are not permitted to include library materials containing explicit sexual content. Non-explicit sexual content may be accessible to students in Grade 10 and above, provided it is age-appropriate.

“Protecting kids from explicit content is common sense. LGBTQ youth, like all children, deserve to see themselves in stories that are age-appropriate, supportive and affirming – not in material that sexualizes or confuses them.”

Blaine Badiuk, education and LGBTQ advocate

School boards must also regularly review their school library collections, publish a full list of available materials and ensure that a staff member supervises students’ access to school library materials. School boards will have to remove any materials with explicit sexual content from their school libraries by October 1.

School board policies and procedures

All school boards must have publicly available policies that align with the new standards for selecting and managing library materials by January 1, 2026. School boards can either create new policies or update existing ones to meet these requirements.

These policies must outline how school library materials are selected and reviewed, how staff supervise students’ access throughout the school day, and how a student, parent, school board employee or other member of the school community can request a review or removal of materials in the school library. School boards are also required to clearly communicate these policies to employees, students and parents before January 2026.

“A robust, grade- and age-appropriate library catalogue is vital for student success. We welcome the ministry’s initiative to establish consistent standards and appreciate the ongoing consultation to help craft a plan that will serve our families and communities well.”

Holly Bilton, trustee, Chinook’s Edge School Division

“Red Deer Public Schools welcomes the new provincial standards for school library materials. Our division is committed to maintaining welcoming, respectful learning spaces where students can grow and thrive. Under the new standards for school libraries, we remain dedicated to providing learning resources that reflect our values and support student success.”

Nicole Buchanan, chair, Red Deer Public Schools

Quick facts

  • The new standards will apply to public, separate, francophone, charter and independent schools.
  • The ministerial order does not apply to municipal libraries located within schools or materials selected for use by teachers as learning and teaching resources.
  • From May 26 to June 6, almost 80,000 people completed an online survey to provide feedback on the creation of consistent standards to ensure the age-appropriateness of materials available to students in school libraries.

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