Amid budget talk of restrained spending and increased savings, the province is still making a major investment to improve children’s healthcare.

Yesterday, Minister of Health, Adrianna LaGrange, announced Alberta will be making a $20 million investment in expanding Edmonton’s Stollery Children’s Hospital and making it a stand-alone facility.

The hospital is already Canada’s second-largest pediatric hospital serving the specialty pediatric needs of Edmonton as well as Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo. The government plans to expand the clinical capacity of the Stollery to help serve Alberta’s quickly growing population.

The proposed stand-alone hospital will have more beds, larger clinical spaces, more private rooms, and dedicated areas for children and their families. It would also have an increased number of teaching spaces as well as use state-of-the-art technologies to enhance health care delivery specifically for children.

“A new, stand-alone children’s hospital will build capacity and enable health care providers to continue delivering world-class care to children,” said Minister LaGrange.

Alberta’s government initially invested in the project in 2021, providing $1 million that was matched by the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation. The proposed investment in Budget 2024 will include $17 million in new funding, following the $3 million invested through last year’s budget, for a total investment of $21 million in government funding over four years.