FCSS Alberta president Kayla Blanchette says the province’s latest budget sent the wrong message to communities trying to deliver preventive social services.

Blanchette joined Chad to talk about a recent media event tied to advocacy efforts by the Family and Community Support Services Association of Alberta. The focus was simple: push the province for more investment in FCSS programming across Alberta.

“We have partnered with that association to advocate for increased investment from the provincial government,” Blanchette said.

That increase did not happen.

No increase in provincial budget

Blanchette said FCSS funding has remained at $105 million provincially for several years, with no new increase in the recently tabled Alberta budget.

“There was no increased investment set aside for the FCSS program,” she said.

She said that matters because the funding is spread across hundreds of municipalities and regional programs throughout the province.

“We’re sitting right now at $105 million,” Blanchette said. “Municipalities top up that. But it’s a partnership, 80 per cent funded by the provincial government and 20 per cent funded by municipalities.”

She added that in reality, many municipalities are already putting in more than their expected share just to keep services going.

“We know that many municipalities across the province are over-contributing to their FCSS program just based on the needs in their communities,” she said.

A bigger ask from FCSS Alberta

Blanchette said FCSS Alberta had asked the province to raise its contribution from $105 million to $162 million.

“The ask of the provincial government was to increase our funding from $105 million to $162 million,” she said.

She acknowledged that is a significant jump, but said the numbers reflect real pressures facing communities.

“When you look at population growth, population growth has gone up by 20 per cent over the past 10 years. Inflation, the consumer price index has gone up by 30 per cent,” Blanchette said. “Then you look at the complexity of needs across the province and centralization of many services into the urban centres, it all compounds.”

“The value of prevention was not necessarily recognized”

While Blanchette said ongoing conversations with the province are still important, she did not hide her disappointment with the budget outcome.

“I would suggest that it was definitely a failure of our provincial government to not recognize the value of prevention in the recently tabled provincial budget,” she said.

Later in the conversation, she put it even more plainly.

“It would’ve been really nice to see some sort of a modest increase this year to know that the intention is to get us to where we need to be,” Blanchette said. “But I think that no increase, to me, the message, although maybe was not the intentional message, the message that I got was that the value of prevention was not necessarily recognized.”

Concerns for municipalities

Blanchette said the funding freeze creates a difficult position for municipalities already trying to manage tight budgets and rising local demands.

“It’s a slippery slope, and it’s a delicate balance because municipalities, as you said, have to consider what service levels they are able to maintain with their tough budget constraints,” she said.

She also said it becomes harder to ask local councils to keep putting in more money when the province is not moving its share.

“I have a hard time selling to my fellow councillors to over-contribute to a program if the provincial government is not pulling their weight in it,” Blanchette said.

She argued the province should be held to the same standard it expects from municipal partners.

“If we didn’t hold up our end of a partnership, the provincial government would be very quick to hold us accountable,” she said. “I would suggest that the provincial government needs to take a look at their end of the partnership and perhaps hold themselves to the same standard.”

 

What comes next

Blanchette said the advocacy work is not over. She was set to meet with an assistant deputy minister to discuss what a more realistic path forward could look like.

“We’re gonna have a conversation about what some realistic paths forward could be,” she said, including possible cross-ministerial work to get more dollars into communities.

She also credited Minister Jason Nixon for at least raising the possibility of phased-in increases over time rather than one major jump all at once.

Still, for Blanchette, the bottom line remains the same: Alberta communities are being asked to do more with funding that has not kept pace with reality.

And in her view, that is not sustainable.