With Alberta’s governing Conservatives campaigning against Liberal candidates in the lead up to a national general election this fall, records show federal funding for a range of economic and social programs in the province has mushroomed under the Trudeau government.

A database of federal financial transfers going back to 2013 shows that Alberta’s share of funding on social and scientific research, universities, economic development, Indigenous and First Nation support and other areas increased by 34 per cent from 2014-2015 to 2017-2018.

Only the province of Quebec received a larger increase in its share of the federal funding, up by nearly 37 per cent from the governmental fiscal year 2014-2015, the last full fiscal year of the previous Conservative government, to 2017-2018, the latest fiscal year available of federal spending records under the Liberals.

The financial contributions of $100,000 or over include spending under agreements on health and social spending such as post-secondary education, but also programs where the federal government has discretion, such as spending on Indigenous, First Nation, Inuit and Metis support and science and environmental initiatives in collaboration with provinces. Universities are among the most-funded institutions each year.

Alberta’s federal transfer payments climbed from $7.4 billion in the fiscal year 2014-2015 to $9.9 billion in 2017-2018, with nearly all sectors receiving significantly higher funding than under the previous Conservative government.

The largest increases in federal spending in Alberta over that period went to health, social programs, family support and development for First Nation, Inuit and Indigenous communities – to $2 billion in 2017-2018 from $1 billion spent on those programs in 2014-2015.

That spending also included funding for self-government initiatives, negotiation and eventual implementation. The funding came from Health Canada and Indian Affairs and Northern Development under the Conservatives and from Health Canada, Indian and Northern Affairs and Indigenous Services under the Liberals.

Indigenous and First Nations, along with Inuit and Metis received scattered funding through other programs as well.

With only three Liberal MPs in the province, the federal government nonetheless devoted more on economic development in Alberta in 2017-2018 than the previous Conservative government did in 2014-2015 – $47.8 million spent on Western Economic Diversification projects compared to $33.9 million under the Conservatives two years earlier.

(Darshan Kang was elected as a Liberal in a Calgary riding in the 2015 election but exited the party’s caucus in 2017 amid sexual harassment allegations.)

Social Science and Humanities Research Council grants, scholarships and funding in the province totalled $56 million compared to $51 million spent in those areas by the Conservative government in 2015.

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National Research Council Grants totalled $11.4 million compared to $10.4 million under the Conservatives in their last full year.

Justice Canada contributions for a range of programs including First Nation and Indigenous youth justice funds totalled $34 million in 2017-2018 compared to $31 million under the Conservatives in 2014-2015.

Environment Canada funding totalled $12,353,022 in 2017-18, with the Liberal government of the day focusing on climate change and biodiversity, and the Harper government in 2014-2015 contributing $3,372,369 to such groups as the Alberta Conservation Association, the Alberta Fish and Game Association, the University of Alberta, a First Nations technical advisory group and a federal standards council.

All the western provinces have benefited from significant increases in federal transfer payments under the Liberals, more so than the increases under the Harper government from 2013 through 2015, according to a Library of Parliament accumulation of data from a federal Open Government database of annual public accounting reports.

British Columbia grants climbed to $10.7 billion by 2017-2018 from $8.6 billion in 2014-2015, while Saskatchewan transfers rose to $3.8 billion and Manitoba funding climbed to $6.2 billion.

An Alberta government spokesman last week reiterated a declaration from Alberta Premier Jason Kenney last spring, after the Conservatives formed government following the province’s general election in April, that government ministers and Legislative Assembly members would be campaigning against federal Liberals as the federal vote closes in.

“Our premier has made it clear that he will be personally supporting Andrew Scheer and the federal Conservatives,” said Ryan Hastman, an aide to Alberta Community and Social Services Minister Rajan Sawhney, who was campaigning for federal Conservative Party of Canada candidates in the Toronto region.

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