Intergovernmental Archives - Page 4 of 5

2Jan

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Agencies, ATB, Government Finances, Intergovernmental, Politics

2020- Best of, Worst of Times Year in Review

In this look-back at 2020, we summarize our thoughts and opinions on some of the key stories in 2020- news, analysis and opinion by Abpolecon.ca. COVID-19 and a drastic drop in oil prices landed like a hammer on Alberta's economy and political landscape. News 28 February Provincial Budget was full of optimism- little did we know. I raised the flag of what's Plan B? 31 March On the final day of the 2019-20 fiscal year, the Alberta cabinet passed Order in Council 104/2020 which authorized the “President of Treasury Board and Minister of Finance to make advances to or purchase securities of the Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission.” Alberta taxpayers had bought a stake in the Keystone XL The Minister of Finance was authorized to borrow up to $2 billion "for th...

28Nov

By Bob AscahNo Comments

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

Mid-year Fiscal and Economic Update- Analysis & Opinion

Slight improvement in deficit forecast for 2020-21 Recalibration of 3-year budget plan Balanced budget pushed further into future Fiscal anchors Ottawa's growing indebtedness and other grievances Job Creation Tax Cut and cutting red tape expected to spur investment and employment Government stays with present course to resize spending Small hint about need to examine revenue structure On Tuesday 24 November, Finance Minister Travis Toews released the 2020-21 Mid-year Fiscal Update and Economic Statement. (Watch the Press Conference here.) There was a slight improvement in the deficit numbers in the First Quarter Fiscal Forecast - then the deficit was estimated to be $24.8 billion- now the Government expects a $21.3 billion deficit. Improvements came mainly on the revenue side with $1.4 b...

Peter Lougheed- Address to Calgary Chamber of Commerce- 13 March 1981

16Nov

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Energy, Fiscal History, Intergovernmental, Politics

Peter Lougheed- Address to Calgary Chamber of Commerce- 13 March 1981

Background From Lou Hyndman's papers, this speech is given to a friendly business audience at the height of the energy fight between Ottawa and ALberta. The parallels between 1980-81 and today are many, but there are considerable differences. In 1980-81, inflation was rampant over 10 per cent and interest rates had soared. Oil was trading at historic highs due to the 1979 Iranian revolution. The Alberta economy had enjoyed six straight years of boom conditions. Unemployment was very low and cranes dotted Edmonton and Calgary's skylines. Joe Clark's administration had been dethroned and Pierre Trudeau was back in office. Jimmy Carter had lost the presidency to Ronald Reagan and the rest of the world outside Alberta was spiralling into recession. The National Energy Program was an attack o...

29Jun

By Bob Ascah1 Comment

Intergovernmental, Opinion/Research, Politics

Alberta’s “Fair Deal” Report

Preston ManningSource: Government of Alberta Whether you like Premier Jason Kenney or not, one must agree he has been a busy Premier. A Premier who sets out a playbook and is following this platform. Whether you like his policy platform or not, he is a man on a mission to transform Alberta seemingly from the ground up. Reading daily news releases from the Government of Alberta, this government likes to claim “Promise Kept!” The Fair Deal page is a trove of information about the Government’s responses to the report (finalized before the Pandemic took hold) including recommendations underway, recommendations agreed to in principle, recommendations with support for further analysis, and recommendations that require modification. If anything, Premier Kenney is well organized and marchin...

26Jun

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Demographics, Employment, Intergovernmental

Heightened Political Anxiety Dec. 1980

During the fall of 1980, I had resumed my second year of doctoral studies in political science at the University of Alberta. It was my second autumn in Alberta. As earlier excerpts indicated, there was a considerable amount of anxiety in the political realm. Joe Clark's government had been defeated at the polls in February 1980. Pierre Elliott Trudeau returned with a renewed majority. Of course, the setting was post-National Energy Program, and Lougheed's cabinet had gone across the province soliciting feedback on their performance. This intelligence was put to good use as the Alberta government was feeling financially flush with oil royalties and general tax revenue. But Canadian and Alberta consumers were squeezed financially with sky-high short-term interest rates over 20 per ce...

Calm before the Storm- Provincial Archives 1980

22Jun

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Employment, Energy, Intergovernmental

Calm before the Storm- Provincial Archives 1980

Updated 25 June 2020 One of the most curious recommendations in the Fair Deal Report is section III which encourages “telling Alberta’s story.” This call to action urges the sharing of "common messages". The authors suggest that “transparent” civic society groups like municipalities, unions, companies, advocacy groups, non-profits and "indeed, every citizen” have a "critical and essential voice" to tell Alberta’s story. However, this section includes the invocation to tell a story about Alberta’s “leading practices in the energy, agriculture, and forestry sectors and the full cost that Alberta’s failure would have on benefits currently shared by the country as a whole.” Critics would charge that the panel was pandering to enduring grievances accentuated by the volatile roller- coaster ...

Hyndman Papers- Wilson, Percy and Norrie

13Jun

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Economic Data, Fiscal History, Intergovernmental, Politics

Hyndman Papers- Wilson, Percy and Norrie

Oil prices, Interregional Adjustment and the Canadian Economic Union In the summer of 1980, federal-Alberta relations were going through a period of conflict and mutual suspicion. Around the same time as the Mellon memo and the Treasury review of Alberta's contribution to Confederation, three respected economists from the University of Alberta produced a paper for the Treasury on the oil, interregional adjustment, and the Canadian economic union. The 4-page Executive Summary (presented below) examines the question of how might an adjustment to the terms of trade within a federal state (i.e. higher oil prices) ideally be carried out. Key issues examined include: the structure of ownership of natural resources (public versus private); redistribution or recycling of oil wealth in a fed...

25May

By Bob Ascah2 Comments

Economic Data, Fiscal History, Intergovernmental

Hyndman Papers

Alberta's Contribution to Confederation circa 1980 In August 1980, Alberta intergovernmental relations were heating up as the earlier Mellon memo attested to. The National Energy Program was about two months away from release, a release that would fuel the flames of western separatism. Concerns were festering in Alberta about the cost-benefits of remaining in Confederation. In the Briefing Note below, authored by Treasury officials in the Fiscal Policy and Economic Analysis Division documented the inflows and outflows to and from the federal Treasury over a 16-year period. The Table below summarizes two tables from the paper- the cumulative totals for provinces and a combined B.C., Yukon, and North West Territories and the discounted cumulative totals. The information was derived...

“A National Energy Program”- Hyndman papers

17May

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Energy, Energy, Government Finances, Intergovernmental

“A National Energy Program”- Hyndman papers

The Provincial Archives of Alberta slumbers in obscurity, but the work of its archivists is essential to the conservation and preservation of Alberta's rich social and political history. Lou Hyndman served with Peter Lougheed's ministry from 1971 to 1985 when he returned to the private sector. Hyndman served in many key cabinet positions, including Education, Intergovernmental Affairs, and Treasury. He donated over 100 boxes of records from his time in the provincial government. In this extract, the Deputy Minister of Energy- Energy Resources, Dr. Barry Mellon advises his minister, the Honourable Merv Leitch about impending storm clouds circling over Alberta's energy sector. This revealing memorandum was written six months after Pierre Trudeau won a majority election on 18 Febru...

Reset for federal-provincial-municipal fiscal arrangements? Opinion

17Apr

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Credit Ratings, Fiscal History, Government Finances, Intergovernmental, Opinion/Research

Reset for federal-provincial-municipal fiscal arrangements? Opinion

It is cliché to say we are living in extraordinary times. Comparisons with the Global Financial Crisis doesn’t work, although monetary madness is again afoot. For Alberta, there are comparisons with the 1980s when homes were sold for a dollar, allowing mortgagors to walk away. And of course, there is the Great Depression, which devastated all of Canada and left lasting resonance on how people related to others, to governments, and to money. So now, we are in a time of both crisis and reflection. Should governments (national and sub-national) be co-operating or competing? We know the beggar thy neighbour policies of the Great Depression did not work, but our next-door neighbour seems intent to draw up the bridges on the castle. In Canada, we are in in a period of inter-governmental co-oper...