Cost of living impacts every Albertan

By Lethbridge Herald on February 28, 2026.

AT THE LEGISLATURE- LETHBRIDGE WEST NDP MLA ROB MIYASHIRO

The Alberta Legislature has returned for the Spring Session, and as I write this, the government is preparing to release the provincial budget. We already know it will be the second consecutive budget with a huge deficit. Rather than accepting responsibility for this, the Premier used her publicly funded televised address on February 19 to blame the deficit on people moving to Alberta. That claim is simply untrue, but it appears she would rather repeat that narrative than confront Alberta’s fiscal problems.

What I hear from constituents in my inbox, at community events, and at the doors when I’m out knocking, is that the cost of living is crushing them. Young people tell me they feel hopeless about ever owning a home. People say their wages haven’t kept up with inflation, and they’re considering leaving Alberta altogether. Seniors tell me their retirement plans are collapsing as utilities, insurance, rent, medication, and everyday essentials rise far faster than their pensions.

And the most vulnerable Albertans, people with disabilities who rely on AISH and other income support, are watching their worlds shrink. Their incomes have dropped significantly while their costs continue to rise. This is destabilizing people.

This affordability crisis is eroding confidence, dignity, and independence. It is also impacting the certainty that we need to invest in our homes, our businesses, and our communities.

The government has many tools available to make life more affordable, yet they refuse to use them. Earlier this week, I asked the government directly how they plan to address affordability. Here is part of what I asked:

“When we’re at home speaking with our constituents, they’re very concerned about affordability and the cost of living. It comes up on every door we knock. They’re worried about putting food on the table, paying their bills, and keeping a roof over their heads- sometimes even having to choose between food and rent. So, will the Premier answer my constituent’s question? Why does this government avoid dealing with the high cost of living, and when will it be a priority for this government?”

In response, the Minister of Affordability and Utilities, who also serves as the MLA for Lethbridge-East, said the government was still working on lowering car insurance and utility bills, and he pointed to a small tax cut that will help some Albertans.

I reminded the government that when the NDP was in office, we managed to cut child poverty in half – from 10% to 5% – even when oil prices were a fraction of what they are today. By 2022, after years of UCP policy decisions, child poverty had surged up to 18%.

We know poverty affects every social determinant of health. When families are stuck in poverty, their ability to live healthy, stable lives is compromised. And the poverty cycle is tough to break for an individual. That’s why I asked the Premier for her government’s plan to address child poverty.

Instead of answering, the government called a point of order and claimed my questions were unrelated: that the cost of living and child poverty had nothing to do with each other. In Question Period, the rule is that questions must be related, but I was stunned. The government was arguing, with a straight face, that affordability has no relationship to child poverty.

What exactly do they believe causes families to fall into poverty? How do they explain the tripling of child poverty after they formed government? They offered no answers, only deflection.

When it came time to debate the point of order, NDP Deputy House Leader Irfan Sabir expressed what many of us were thinking:

“For the Government House Leader to suggest that child poverty is somehow not related to the cost of living boggles my mind. That’s a direct result of the cost of living. That’s why we have child poverty…”

Yet the government still has not addressed affordability, and they continue to insist, against all common sense and against the experiences of Albertans, that the cost of living has nothing to do with poverty. This position contradicts every conversation I have had at the doors in Lethbridge-West, not to mention the evidence from economists, educators, and public health experts.

The UCP has no plan to reduce the cost of living and no plan to address poverty. The UCP are not being transparent about how they will improve the situation and they are not addressing the underlying issues.

When you hear the Budget, you will hear many promises but none that will make your life more affordable. I will continue to press the government for real plans and real solutions to address the cost of living, and I will continue to explain to them that the cost of living is a cause of poverty.

If you have feedback about the Budget, or anything else, please reach out to me at lethbridge.west@assembly.ab.ca or at 403-329-4644.