Government Finances Archives - Page 10 of 10

3Apr

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Agencies, Energy, Government Finances, Opinion/Research, Politics

Politics of Alberta Growth Mandate (AGM)

Politics of the Alberta Growth Mandate In past articles, the Alberta Growth Mandate was explained as a significant policy initiative in the first NDP budget of October 2015. It should be noted that, in the fall of 2015, Alberta was reeling from significant declines in investment and job losses, and a rookie NDP government was looking for quick wins to support jobs in the Alberta economy. The policy objective was to support Alberta companies (as defined by the Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo)) and based on meeting one of the following criteria. a. Creates jobs in Alberta b. Builds new infrastructure in Alberta c. Diversifies Alberta’s economy d. Supports Alberta’s growth e. Connects Alberta’s companies to export markets f. Develops subject matter exper...

30Mar

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Credit Ratings, Government Finances, Intergovernmental

Government Borrowing

Updated 2 April 2020 A number of historic events have taken place this past week, with long-term ramifications for the Canadian and Alberta economies. Bank of Canada actions to purchase money market paper of provincial governmentsBank of Canada starts quantitative easing and will purchase commercial paperManitoba Premier calling on the federal government to establish a Pandemic Emergency Credit FacilityProvince of Alberta issues a century bond Alberta is witnessing the deepest economic storm since the mid-1980s and likely will see conditions similar to the Great Depression over the next few months. Unlike the Great Depression, our social safety net and government willingness to “do whatever it takes” will moderate the financial and economic distress. Unlike the Great Depression,...

Alberta ‘Growth’ Mandate- Analysis and Opinion

22Mar

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Agencies, Budget, Government Finances, Opinion/Research, Politics

Alberta ‘Growth’ Mandate- Analysis and Opinion

While now is not necessarily the best time to be taking stock of one's investment portfolio, government and provincial agency officials, who face a March 31 fiscal year end deadline, are concerned about the impact of accounting rules that require "fair market accounting" for their investments. The performance of both bond and equity markets over the next ten days will determine whether forecasts for investment income in the provincial budget ($1.96 billion for the Heritage Fund) will actually pan out. Investment income for investment portfolios are typically composed of two types of income: (1) dividends and interest payments or cash distributions from private equity, and (2) increases or decreases of the "fair value" of the investment at year -end compared to the initial cost of bu...

22Mar

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Credit Ratings, Government Finances, Opinion/Research, Opinion/Research

Budget 2020-Credit Perspective

[Updated 23 August 2020. Note: This report was in development before the DBRS Morningstar report of Thursday 19 March. The report is only available to purchasers of the service. Normally, the Province of Alberta posts on its Investor Relations page the reports. To date, this has not taken place. Nor has there been an official reaction to the downgrade to AA- from AA and the outlook to negative.] One of the key audiences of any government budget, but especially a budget under increasing duress and scrutiny, are credit rating agencies such as Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and DBRS Morningstar. Credit evaluation is as much an art as a science, requiring an understanding of financial principles, economics and political science. Agencies provide opinions on probabilities of default of ...

Energy Wars in the 1970s- Hyndman’s files

26Nov

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Energy, Government Finances, Intergovernmental, Uncategorized

Energy Wars in the 1970s- Hyndman’s files

Two more excerpts from the files of the late Lou Hyndman come from the mid 1970s. The disputes being addressed by senior political leaders followed soon after the OPEC oil embargo. The conflict which emerged between Ottawa and the consuming provinces (e.g. Ontario) and Alberta involved a bitter fight over which order of government would collect the lion's share of the rapid increase in the world price of oil. The first excerpt is from a speech given by the then Treasurer, Gordon Miniely at a finance ministers' conference. The second extract is from a speech, presumably authored, by J.Peter Meekison, a special intergovernmental affairs advisor and then deputy minister of Alberta's Federal and Intergovernmental Affairs department dated in December 1974. The speech is significant as ...

30Oct

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Government Finances, Politics

Sales Tax for Alberta?

Recently there has been a renewed interest in a sales tax for Alberta. Grant Bishop of the C.D. Howe Institute writing a "Shadow Budget" for Alberta, has suggested the introduction of a sales tax after the budget is balanced through spending cuts. In a recent report from the Parkland Institute, Cutting Through the Blue Ribbon, authors Bob Ascah, Trevor Harrison, and Richard Mueller conclude that a provincial sales tax, harmonized with the federal Goods and Services Tax, is an appropriate fiscal measure to achieve fiscal sustainability. SUch a revenue measure would directly address Alberta's chronic vulnerability to fluctuating commodity prices. Then in an October 25th piece in The Globe and Mail, Max Fawcett argues that Jason Kenney, like Richard Nixon going to China, is uniquely placed...

Critical Review of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Alberta’s Finances (MacKinnon Report)

30Oct

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Government Finances

Critical Review of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Alberta’s Finances (MacKinnon Report)

This analysis of the Blue-Ribbon Panel on Alberta’s Finances: Report and Recommendations (McKinnon report) includes a description of the construction of the panel- its membership, its mandate, process, and its members’ experience and predispositions. In the second part of the paper, I describe how the construction of the panel predetermined its recommendations. And finally, using textual analysis, I examine the basic assumptions used by the Report’s authors to construct their interpretation of how to improve the provincial government’s fiscal standing. Composition of Panel On 7 May, three weeks after the election of the UCP, Premier Kenney and Travis Toews, Treasury Board President and Minister of Finance announced the formation of the Blue-Ribbon panel. As most commentators quickly real...

Journey to obsession: a sales tax for Alberta (Part 1)

29Mar

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Government Finances, Politics

Journey to obsession: a sales tax for Alberta (Part 1)

The following is a draft of the preface for the unnamed as yet book title about a sales tax for Alberta- hopefully forthcoming in the summer of 2019. The following is a personal set of experiences related to the sales tax discussion that is not included in the book. It's the story of my interest, then obsession, about the rationale for Alberta adopting a sales tax.. One of my initiatives at the Institute for Public Economics (UofA) when I became Director was to initiate a policy analysis publication. The first endeavour, (of three), was a paper by Dr. Ergete Ferede of MacEwan University. The paper, entitled “The Response of Tax Bases to the Business Cycle: The Case for Alberta,” looked at the volatility of certain tax sources, including a PST. I vividly remember the following fr...

22Mar

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Government Finances

An Alberta Sales Tax?Really!

The presentation below from my presentation on 20 March 2019 to the Gyro Club of Edmonton. The presentation summarizes many of the arguments in a book I am editing which hopefully will be available this summer. The PowerPoint presentation and speaking notes examine the problem of the provincial government's fiscal dependence on non-renewable resource revenue and economic dominance of the energy sector. The presentation also highlights difficulties which started in the early 1980s when the provincial government decided to take a short-term view and suspend payments of resource revenue into the Heritage Fund. At this time, all investment income accruing to the Fund went to government program spending. The words "sales tax" will not be uttered voluntarily by the two main political lea...