Fiscal History Archives

Why AIMCo needs more scrutiny and transparency Part 2

6Nov

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Agencies, Bankruptcies, Fiscal History, Government Finances, Investment, Politics

Why AIMCo needs more scrutiny and transparency Part 2

Updated 6 November 2024 Note to readers: On 6 November the Standing Committee on the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund (AHSTF) will be holding its annual public meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the Rocky Mountain Room, 2nd Floor of the Queen Elizabeth II Building in Edmonton. The annual public meeting is open to members of the public either in person or via social media including Facebook. I attended the last two meetings in person and have been able to raise important questions of policy. In the 2022 meeting (transcript here), I was the only member of the public present in person. In 2023, I was pleased that there were nine members of the public raising uncomfortable questions which generally were deflected by officials of Alberta Treasury Board and Finance (TBF) and senior Al...

A Sales Tax for Alberta- Presentation to the Probus Club of Central Edmonton

14Apr

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Credit Ratings, Energy, Fiscal History, Government Finances, Opinion/Research, Politics

A Sales Tax for Alberta- Presentation to the Probus Club of Central Edmonton

My presentation to Probus members on 20 February 2024 reiterated the main themes in A Sales Tax for Alberta- Why and How published by Athabasca University Press in 2022. The presentation is found below. Much of the discussion acknowledged the why for a retail sales tax but most of the questions and comments focused on the how, The major difficulty is political culture which is very hostile to taxes than in the rest of the country. Several members who had worked within the Alberta public sector argued that waste in governments should discourage taxpayers from further "feeding the beast." It is a Catch 22- to make the political culture less fearful of paying taxes, government needs to become more efficient. To become more efficient typically means to hire private sector managemen...

26Feb

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Capital Spending, Credit Ratings, Energy, Environment, Fiscal History, Government Finances, Opinion/Research

Kaplan-Ten major reasons why Alberta’s new fiscal framework won’t bring a long-term sustainability focus to fiscal planning.

In this critical and timely essay- a few days before the province's 2024 Budget is tabled, fiscal planning expert Lennie Kaplan provides an in-depth analysis of problems embedded in the Smith government's Sustainable Fiscal Planning and Reporting Act (SFPRA). Kaplan argues the SFPRA must be fully re-opened to meet Premier Smith’s commitment to long-term fiscal planning. This analysis reveals there is a great deal of flexibility in the government's framework in spite of the impression that the government has little fiscal flexibility to spend. In her televised address on February 21, 2024, Premier Smith promised to bring a long-term fiscal sustainability focus to Alberta fiscal planning, including building up the assets of the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund (AHSTF) and paying d...

1Oct

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Fiscal History, Government Finances, Opinion/Research, Politics

A devil’s bargain- Opinion

You may be an ambassador to England or France You may like to gamble, you might like to dance You may be the heavyweight champion of the world You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls [Chorus] But you’re going to have to serve somebody, yes indeed You’re going to have to serve somebody Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord But you’re going to have to serve somebody Bob Dylan-1979 Slow Train Coming We are a province of free riders- free riders on the periodic gusher of oil, bitumen, and natural gas revenues. As such, this bargain has made us, inured us, to low taxes and good public services. And public buildings too, testaments to Alberta's engineering prowess. When I say "we," that includes me. I was lured to Alberta by money a decent research assistant-ship stipen...

2Aug

By Bob AscahNo Comments

ATB, Budget, Credit Ratings, Energy, Environment, Fiscal History, Government Finances, Loan Losses, Politics

The Big Two mandates….

Over the past three weeks, Premier Smith has been busy issuing “mandate letters” to her cabinet colleagues. These mandate letters are ministers’ marching orders and are an excellent guide of future legislative and regulatory initiatives by the newly minted Smith government. Given the importance of five ministries which represent the most important conduits of public spending (Health and Education) and strategic public policy and intergovernmental relations (Energy and Minerals, Environment and Protected Areas, and Treasury Board and Finance), this post, and a succeeding post, looks at the central elements of Smith’s agenda. This post looks examines what I call the Big Two Mandates- Energy and Treasury Board and Finance. Energy and Minerals Smith’s letter to Jean, begins, excluding the b...

Alberta’s continuing devotion to resource revenue and the legacy of ignored policy advice

25Jul

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Energy, Fiscal History, Government Finances, Opinion/Research

Alberta’s continuing devotion to resource revenue and the legacy of ignored policy advice

Updated on 2 August 2023 Despite a record surplus reported for last year, the Alberta government only achieves surpluses by counting the royalties from the sale of non-renewable resources (non-renewable resource revenue- NRRR) like ordinary revenue. But does this practice- commenced in the 1940s- faithfully represent the fiscal position of the government? If the Government of Alberta adopted the private sector's approach to the sale of physical assets, Alberta's fiscal history would be decidedly different. Private sector accounting would establish the oil, gas, and bitumen resources as an asset on the provincial balance sheet. The accounting entry would represent the value of all the resources in the ground that would be produced in the current fiscal year and into the future. The value of...

E. Preston Manning- Management Consultant circa 1983

19Jul

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Capital Spending, Fiscal History, Government Finances, Politics

E. Preston Manning- Management Consultant circa 1983

In this extraordinary document, found in Lou Hyndman's papers deposited with the Provincial Archives in 1986, is a 12-page submission by Manning Consultants Limited to pitch a "Citizens' Committee on Productivity and Economy in Government." It was proposed that Manning Consultants co-ordinate the organization of "information request forms," workshop and final report. As the document reveals, the proposal is highly moralistic in tone. The document is a response to unfortunate stories in the media about government "extravagance and waste" and lifestyle choices of elected government officials and senior civil servants. The document's fiscal conservatism is vintage Preston Manning whose Reform party publicized government waste and inefficiency. This remarkable document sheds light on Mann...

Lou Hyndman’s reply to Preston Manning’s proposal

19Jul

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Capital Spending, Fiscal History, Government Finances, Health, Politics

Lou Hyndman’s reply to Preston Manning’s proposal

In an earlier post, in the fall of 1983, Preston Manning, then President of Manning Consultants a firm his father established wished push fiscal policy changes. The timing may be significant because by that time Peter Lougheed had been in office for 12 years and there was speculation growing about when her would exit. Lou Hyndman's somewhat testy reply to Preston Manning's circulation of his groups report to all M.L.A.'s and to Progressive Conservative delegates at the annual convention was especially cool. The displeasure is evident in Manning's courageous and naive proposal to reduce the size of the Alberta Legislative Assembly consistent with principles that fiscal discipline should begin at the top. His reference to the earlier Social Credit government allowing the civil service to r...

30Jun

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Credit Ratings, Economic Data, Energy, Fiscal History, Politics

Ideas, Thoughts, Experiments Episode 4- Conversation with Robert Bhatia

This conversation occurred one week before the provincial election and canvassed three main topics- fiscal and economic policies, and politics. Click here to see the conversation. Robert Bhatia is a retired, long-term Alberta public servant rising to the position of deputy minister. He served as deputy minister in four ministries including Alberta Revenue and Alberta Finance. During his tenure he served on the boards of provincial agencies including the Alberta Investment Management Corporation and the Credit Union Deposit Guarantee Corporation. Since his retirement, he has joined the Local Authorities Pension Plan Board, was chair of the Alberta Balancing Pool and was named as a public member to the Credit Union Central Alberta board of directors where he is now Vice-Chair. He had signi...

31May

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Energy, Fiscal History, Politics

Ideas, Thoughts, Experiments- Alberta 2023 Conversation with thought leaders Episode 2- Lori Williams

To watch the conversation click here. In the second of a series of conversations with well known Albertans, Bob Ascah speaks to Professor Lori Williams of Mount Royal University. This conversation was recorded on Thursday 18, before the leadership debate. The discussion delved into the 2023 election which, at just past the mid-point remained too close to call. Ms. Williams identified health care and affordability as the key policy issues in this election. Other topics covered included how safe are the 41 "rural seats" for the UCP? Williams noted that during the 2019 election, Jason Kenney's controversial history as a student at a San Francisco Jesuit seminary this was generally ignored in the campaign. So why did Smith's leadership opponents not dig out these con...