Government Finances Archives - Page 3 of 11

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...

Ideas, Thoughts, Experiments- Alberta 2023 Conversation with thought leaders Episode 5- Ruben Nelson

21Aug

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Energy, Environment, Government Finances, Politics, Society

Ideas, Thoughts, Experiments- Alberta 2023 Conversation with thought leaders Episode 5- Ruben Nelson

In the fifth of the Ideas, Thoughts, Experiments Alberta 2023 series, I talked with Alberta futurist Ruben Nelson the day after the 29 May provincial election results. In this wide-ranging discussion, Dr. Nelson speaks eloquently about the problems faced by our modern industrial-technological society and the notion of societies being “future takers.” And being a future taker means that you need to seriously understand the situation you're in and with a good deal of humility come to terms with the forces that are shaping your future whether you like it or not. And it seems to me that Alberta, in those term, Alberta is not a humble place (emphasis added). Role of Culture According to Nelson, Alberta is culturally very different than other provinces because Europeans did not arrive in any l...

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...

6Jun

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Capital Spending, Economic Data, Education, Energy, Government Finances, Investment

Ideas, Thoughts, Experiments- Alberta 2023 Conversation with thought leaders Episode 3- Lindsay Tedds

To watch the conversation go to Youtube This conversation was recorded at 1 p.m. on Thursday 18 May, before the leaders' debate with Professor Lindsay Tedds Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Calgary. Her research interests are eclectic and range from tax policy and public policy design and implementation involving a trans-disciplinary approach to harnesses the strengths of economics, law, public administration, and intersectionality. Our talk ranged widely from income inequality, building an inclusive workplace, the importance of policy stability for investment, societal values, contradictions between the UCP's socialistic spending promises and its free markets' position, education policy, municipal property taxes, environmental liabilities, the challenge of fu...

29May

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Energy, Fiscal History, Government Finances

Alberta’s Crack Cocaine: Challenges for the next Premier- Opinion

On the eve of Alberta's closest election and arguably since 1935, it's most crucial, I am reminded of an analogy I heard first around 2013. The term was used in a public forum on the recent Alberta budget. Grant Robertson, a career Alberta public servant and recently retired former deputy minister in Treasury Board compared Alberta's non-renewable resource revenue dependence with the use of crack cocaine. His comment produced a titter in the audience. When I heard this phrase come up again recently in my conversation with Todd Hirsch on 8 May, one week into the provincial election, I took notice. Mr. Hirsch, the well known ATB Financial former economist was likewise using this phrase in the same way used by Mr. Robertson about a decade ago. The ups and downs of Alberta's roller coaster a...

Watching and Weathering the Withering Rise in Interest Rates

24Apr

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Banks, Economic Data, Financial Institutions, Government Finances

Watching and Weathering the Withering Rise in Interest Rates

Last Thursday I was invited to present some thoughts about the impact of rising of interest rates to the weekly KEI Webinar. The recording can be found here. There was an engaging conversation afterwards which touched on the recent banking crisis, crypto-currencies, government deficits, prospects for a global recession, performance of central banks particularly the U.S. Federal Reserve, and the future of the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency. Some humour was intended to be inserted with a showing of the famous Two Johns- Bird and Fortune on the Subprme Crisis The following text are speaking notes which were loosely followed. All date is from the Federal Reserve Board website. "Well thank you Perry for inviting me to provide some commentary around the impact...

3Apr

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Credit Ratings, Energy, Government Finances, Politics

Auditor General and orphaned wells

On 23 March the Auditor General issued his spring reports into four areas including the Liability Management program for oil and gas wells administered by the Alberta Energy Regulator. AER has a system to mitigate the risks for the closure of oil and gas infrastructure; however, parts of the system have not operated effectively…criteria were not fully met in the following areas: risk management practices goals, performance measurement and public accountability assessing information from OWA timely closure of inactive sites collecting sufficient financial security and minimizing risk of inappropriate licence transfers suspension, abandonment, remediation and reclamation regulatory processes Three main problems with the current liability management system are: lack of pr...