Alberta Infrastructure: Cracks Show in Rapid Growth

[CALGARY, AB] — Calgary's high schools are running at 107 per cent capacity. The province is projecting a $9.4 billion deficit. And somewhere in the AESO approval queue, there are more than 30 AI data centre projects waiting for a green light. These facts do not arrange themselves into a flattering picture.

The Alberta Federation of Labour posted a broadside to X on May 25 that hit several of these pressure points at once — schools bursting, seniors waiting, public land handed to data centres while Albertans foot the utility bills, a government hostile to the people it serves. The AFL is an advocacy organization with a clear agenda, and the sharper accusations — "abusing power," "silencing dissent" — are political language, not verified findings. But the underlying infrastructure stress the AFL is pointing at? That part is documented.

The Schools Problem Is Real and Getting Realer

The Calgary Board of Education reported an overall system utilization rate of 95 per cent as of end-September 2025. High schools are averaging 107 per cent of capacity. The province, in its Budget 2026, committed $3.3 billion over three years for school capital projects, and the CBE received approval for planning, design, or construction of 14 new schools to address growth pressure in Calgary's fastest-expanding communities.

That sounds like action. It is also, unmistakably, catch-up. Alberta's population growth led the country in 2023-24 at 4.4 per cent, per the Government of Alberta's own Annual Population Report. The schools that are overcrowded today were not overcrowded by accident — they were overcrowded by a growth rate the province watched arrive in real time. The 14 new schools are a response to a problem that was visible years before the response materialized. Teachers made that point loudly enough in fall 2025 to trigger a province-wide strike.

The Health Budget Is Large. The Deficit Is Larger.

Budget 2026 allocates $34.4 billion in total health expense, including $1.9 billion in new health funding. That is a substantial number. The deficit projected for 2026-27 is $9.4 billion. Both numbers are true simultaneously, and that tension is the actual story — not whether the government is spending on health, but whether the fiscal trajectory is sustainable enough to keep spending at this level when oil prices move, as they always do.

The AFL's claim about seniors waiting months for care is harder to pin down with current data. As of Q3 2023-24 — a figure now more than two years old, and unconfirmed by a primary URL — AHS data showed an average 180-day wait for long-term care placement from acute care. No current figure was available. The absence of a current number is itself a kind of answer about how urgently the government wants this tracked.

The Data Centre Question Deserves More Than a Shrug

The AFL alleges that public land is being handed over to AI data centres that consume water and electricity at Albertans' expense. That specific claim — consummated Crown land transfers to data centre operators — could not be independently confirmed. What is confirmed: as of February 2026, the AESO had over 30 AI data centre projects in its approval queue, per the University of Calgary Sustainability Office. The province has enacted Bill 8, requiring data centres to pay for grid upgrades, and a separate levy applies to facilities using 75 megawatts or more, taking effect at the end of 2026.

The U of C analysis also flags the risk that grid costs could ultimately be shifted to Alberta ratepayers. That risk is not the same as a confirmed harm — but 30-plus projects in a queue, in a deregulated electricity market, with a levy that doesn't kick in until late 2026, is not a system with a lot of margin for error.

The Question the AFL Doesn't Ask

The AFL's framing is adversarial by design — that is what advocacy organizations do. The strongest counter-argument is straightforward: Alberta needs economic diversification, data centres create jobs and tax revenue, and the new levy framework shows the province is not simply giving the sector a free ride. A $9.4 billion deficit makes attracting investment look less like a luxury and more like a necessity.

That argument has real weight. It just doesn't resolve the underlying tension: a province growing faster than its schools can be built, running a deficit larger than most Canadian provinces' entire budgets, and betting that the next wave of investment will arrive before the infrastructure gap becomes a crisis. The AFL is pointing at the gap. Whether the government is closing it fast enough is the only question that actually matters.