Updated 16 January 2020
From the Provincial Archives of Alberta and the Hyndman papers comes an undated memorandum from Jim Dinning to Lou Hyndman giving a history of previous budgets. The tone seems archaic in this elite white male system, These excerpts underline the great optimism which has been incorporated into the psyche of most Albertans. An unbounded future- ever expansionary- no room for pessimists and little time for opposition members.
The tone is also conversational in these first segments indicating that few in the population knew about or cared about this arcane art of provincial budgeting.
FROM: Jim Dinning
Executive Assistant
TO: Hon. Lou Hyndman
Provincial Treasurer
REVIEW OF PREVIOUS BUDGETS
1906- May 7
This was the province’s first budget as Alberta had entered Confederation as a province on September 1, 1905. The budget was delivered by Hon. A.C. Rutherford, Prime Minister and Provincial Treasurer of Alberta.
This was largely an unimaginative budget which simply spelled out in detail the proposed expenditures and sources of revenue. However, in concluding, and while predicting a surplus, the Treasurer made a statement worthy of note:
“ We live, Mister Speaker, in one of the grandest provinces in this Canadian Confederation. We believe there is a great future before our Province, and that it will be still grander province in the very near future. We fondly hope in the course of a few years that millions of people will find their homes here in this province of Alberta. Our resources are such that we can support a population of 10 millions. We hope that our fond expectations will be realized. We are a hopeful people. We have no pessimists in Alberta- a pessimist could not succeed. We are optimistic, and always look on the brighter side of affairs, and so long as we keep on progressing in the future as we have in the past we will without a doubt become the greatest premier Province in British North America.”
1920- March 18
This budget was delivered by Hon. C. R. Mitchell, Treasurer of the Province.
“ I am sure this position (surplus) will be most gratifying to those interested in the finances of the province, inasmuch as it shows a well-defined reaction from the adverse conditions prevalent during the war, conditions under which we were carrying on government with more or less difficulty, particularly in respect to the collection of Revenue. Instead of the conditions which then prevailed, a new era has set in, and in the future we may expect a greater buoyancy of Revenue dad has been the case in the past.
Alberta has gone through one of its most difficult years, so far as business which forms the basic industry of this province is concerned, namely, that of agriculture. A very large proportion of this province was stricken with drought.
When adverse conditions overtake the farmers of the province the urban centres naturally suffer as well, and since it is the duty of the government to collect and disperse moneys in behalf of all its people, the effect is soon apparent in depleted resources at the disposal of the Treasurer, and this condition must naturally interfere with the development of the country as a whole and particularly those centres which are more or less dependent upon the general prosperity of the country.”
In referring to the assets of the province, Treasurer Mitchell said ”if the Government of the day is playing fast and loose with the public monies of this Province, if they are expending without due regard to the necessities of the case; if they are not collecting from the people and from the proper people and from the proper sources of revenue, the money they ought to be collecting, so that the revenues are not sufficient to carry on public business properly, then I say that Government is not discharging its full duty and is not placing the province which it represents in a favorable position before the monied markets of the world. For that reason, I think that one of the chief assets of this Province is the character of the people, the character of the administration and last but not least, our ability to impose a tax which will, in the long run, be sufficient to meeting maturing obligations from year to year”
In referring to the estimates, he said: “ I began to think that we have group government here. I found each and every minister thinking that his own department was the only sphere of activity in this Province, and that what he was proposing to do was of the most important of all the energies and activities of this government. That will give you a suggestion that it is not a simple matter to keep expenditure within the limits set by our revenues.” In describing the size of the public service, he said, “Apart altogether from the telephone service the Gvoernemnt (sic) nearly always has about one thousand persons in their employ, of whom 800 to 850 are engaged upon administrative work in one or other of the departments.”
In addressing the subject of Rural Credits, Hon. Mitchell stated, “I would like to say right here that the banks are not doing their part willingly in support of the benefits of this Act, (farming), and whatever pressure can be brought to bear upon these financial concerns to secure better co-operation with the government in facilitating the cheaper money for farmers will be exerted to the fullest possible extent in the future.”
And looking ahead to 1921, Mr Mitchell described the construction of certain essential institutions, the most notable being “ the feeble-minded institution,” and he said, “ we will also be required to gather these feeble minded from various parts of the Province, and place them in institutions and maintain them there. You might want to make reference to this statement as it relates to the five members on the other side of the Assembly!!!!”
I know that history repeats itself. In making obvious reference to the zeal of the then Minister of Education, Honourable Mitchell stated, “The Minister of Education tries to cheer me up to a certain degree, as to the modest way in which he intends to undertake this work (construction of Alberta Teachers’ College) and the class and character of the buildings, which will be necessary. But that institution is going to take money, no matter how modest his notions maybe in that respect.”
In concluding, the Treasurer stated, “If we get the energies of our present population and the population that is to come, directed in the proper channels, then I can see that Alberta, rich as she is in natural resources, with potentialities that are capable of expansion to an unknown degree, will face the year 1921 and succeeding years without any fear of depression, without misgivings that our present commitments in the way of expenditures have been too heavy, and I believe if we can take care of what we have committed ourselves to for the next few years we are doing, and we’ll be doing, all that the public of Alberta should expect of us in the way of expansion.”
Source: Provincial Archives of Alberta, PR1986.0245, Box #45, File # 641.(Hyndman papers)
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