Budget

Originally published 2 March 2018 Finance Minister Joe Ceci's fiscal update issued on 28 February was more upbeat than previous reports. The headline number was a $1.4 billion reduction in the provincial deficit forecast for the fiscal year ending 31 March 2018.  For critics, the government kept the spending floodgates open; for partisans the economy was growing strongly courtesy of the sound steerage of the NDP government. Below we examine some of the details. (more…)

Originally posted 13 December 2017 In late October, the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary published a research paper co-authored by Janice MacKinnon and Jack Mintz.  [AB-Budget-New-Trajectory-MacKinnon-Mintz-final]  Janice MacKinnon is a professor of public policy and former NDP Minister of Finance of Saskatchewan.  Mintz is the President's Professor of Public Policy at UofC and former Director of the School of Public Policy. Both writers have formidable reputations as commentators on public policy and also as academics who have worked at the highest bureaucratic and political levels in the formulation of budgetary and taxation policies. (more…)

Highlights No material change to deficit Meaningful reduction in amount of capital grants and capital investment Weaker tax revenue Spending creeps up (more…)

Overview Joe Ceci's 2017 budget could be characterized as a "steady as she goes" budget. The citizens of Alberta will be paying for this budget, and many previous budgets, with higher taxes and higher debt service costs for years, if not decades, to come. There are many observers who feel the budget was "ok" since programs and capital spending are not disturbed. There are also many Albertans who do not believe using the credit card to support spending is the right way forward. One half of Mr. Ceci's address spoke of the capital spending and repair and maintenance undertaken by the Government. Virtually no corner of the province escaped mention: a courthouse for Red Deer a new hospital for South Edmonton Highway construction for Fort Saskatchewan Deerfoot Trail in Calgary an...

Green shoots- still clouds on horizon Treasury Board President and Finance Minister, Joe Ceci released the Government of Alberta's Third Quarter Fiscal Update and Economic Statement on Thursday 23 February 2017. Overall the fiscal picture has not changed very much over the past three months. The 2017-18 budget is expected to be in March and will likely reflect some tweaks to the fiscal 2017 numbers published today. There is definitely some more optimism in Alberta today as oil prices have stabilized, pipeline approvals announced, and Fort McMurray rebuilds. Possibly the worst is behind the economy but there is little reason to be complacent. Today Mr. Ceci announced the passage of an Order in Council authorizing the borrowing of up to $14 billion. He immediately cautioned that this appro...

Opinion On 9 January 2017 at 11:23 a.m. I received an email from the Government of Alberta with a press release entitled "Albertans asked for input into Budget 2017"  [News Release].  Puzzled by the contradiction between the desirability of open public consultation on matters of great public interest and these closed door meetings, I hopefully contacted Mike Brown, the Press Secretary for Treasury Board President Joe Ceci, at 12:12 p.m.to learn where the Edmonton event was to be held.  As veteran political columnist, Graham Thomson, reported in today's Edmonton Journal (NDP's public consultations look more like public relations, 10 January 2017)  he was able to get a response from Brown, albeit unsatisfactorily, on the secret location of the meeting. At the time of writing (6:30 p.m. 11 J...

The Voldemort of Alberta Politics- a sales tax No one likes to pay tax, least of all residents of Alberta. The Progressive Conservative Government of Alberta had for years been successful in stifling debate on the need for alternative sources of revenue to offset declines in non-renewable resource revenue. In fact, all parties in Alberta are equally silent on this question. The  Conference Board of Canada's Q32016Outlook on Alberta weighed into the sales tax fray in their June briefing on Alberta's fiscal situation. Their analysis, part of the Conference Board's periodic review of provincial government finances, offered a sober outlook for the province. The Board's analysts Daniel Fields and Alicia Macdonald, forecast Alberta's economy to come out of back to back negative annual growth r...