AB Pol Econ

21Feb

By Bob Ascah1 Comment

Post-Mortem Budget 2021

Updated 25 March 2021 Subscribers and readers wishing to watch the unedited recording of the event see immediately below: Topic: Alberta Budget Panel Date:Mar 11,2021 11:32 AM Mountain Time (US and Canada)Recording-1(1.15 GB)https://ualberta-ca.zoom.us/rec/play/Fho1Zu-z2P0siweIkLKS69c5I0qJayPVtifu-qxUYHMxfTjxc4FhEmkNKH45qzB6skdm4bOLgqfj5a69.TAUF0uNq74aG3bwRPasscode: S^hpKdE6 Event registration closed. Video recording will be available after the event. Economics Society of Northern Alberta Institute of Public Administration of Canada (Edmonton) The Parkland Institute University of Alberta Present Post-Mortem on Alberta Budget 2021 Noon: Thursday 11 March 2021 On 25 February, Treasury Board President and Finance Minister Travis Toews presents his third budget- the first item on ...

13Feb

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Fiscal History, Government Finances

Budget Process: Pros & Cons of Supplementary Estimates

This memorandum from the late summer of 1981 captures the momentum of spending that had built up under the Lougheed government in 1981. As previous documents have shown, a great deal of money was being spent to cushion the blows from the National Energy Program and the attendant difficulties associated with lower oil price projections and high interest rates. As departments rushed to take advantage of a more generous attitude within the provincial cabinet to spend, the volume of additional requests suggested mid-year of supplementary estimates to presented at a fall sitting of the Legislative Assembly. Collins' memorandum attempts to get ahead of the list of Special Warrants, appropriations made by the provincial cabinet rather than the Legislative Assembly. These Special Warrants would ...

7Feb

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Capital Spending, Fiscal History, Government Finances

Hyndman Papers- 1982-83 Budget Deliberations

1982 was a pivotal year for Alberta as the twin effects of a world recession and falling oil investment forced Alberta policy-makers to pull out all the stops. Western separatism was a worry for Peter Lougheed when Gordon Kessler of the Western Canada Concept party won a February 1982 by-election in the rural constituency of Olds-Didsbury. This was also a time for budgetary largesse. In a 2011 article in Policy Options, economists Herb Emery and Ron Kneebone: Provincial support for the industry included a $5.4-billion program, introduced in 1982, consisting of royalty reductions and grants designed to increase the flow of revenue to the industry. In the same year the federal government would supplement this effort with its own $2-billion assistance plan. Measured in 2008 dollars, these t...

1Feb

By Bob Ascah3 Comments

Budget, Employment, Government Finances

Are the UCP good fiscal managers?

Updated 9 February 2021 On Monday, 18 January Service Alberta quietly issued a request for expressions of interest (REOI) to sell the data contained in systems from the Province's Land Titles Office (LTO), Personal Property Registry (PPR) information, and Corporate Registry data (COR). This Request was reported by the CBC on 21 January and Postmedia on 23 January. The Service Alberta ministry is run by Nate Glubish, the UCP member from Strathcona-Sherwood Park. (Picture source:Wikipedia) Background There has been little comment on this move by the Alberta government in the ten days or so since the REOI. The intent of the process is to determine the interest by private sector actors in buying an "exclusive 35-year concession" to sell information to registries from the databases of the P...

23Jan

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Agencies, Employment, Energy, Government Finances, Intergovernmental, Opinion/Research

GOA’s investment in Keystone XL looks shaky

Updated 25 January 2021 to reflect Kenney-Trudeau letter It was perhaps a foregone conclusion that Joseph R. Biden Jr. would sign an executive order soon after his inauguration rescinding the permit allowing TC Energy to build the Keystone XL pipeline. But hope springs eternal in some locales in Alberta. And yet, the heavily signalled order sat on the newly -minted President's desk. Executive Order on "Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis," a lengthy discourse of executive actions, revoked the March 2019 Permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline. According to the Order The Keystone XL pipeline disserves the U.S. national interest. The United States and the world face a climate crisis. That crisis must be met with action on a scale an...

17Jan

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Agencies, Employment, Opinion/Research, Politics

UCP declares war on Alberta Teachers

Updated 18 January 2021 With the stroke of a pen on a 23 December 2020 ministerial order, Finance Minister and Treasury Board President Travis Toews imposed an investment management agreement (IMA) on the Alberta Teachers Retirement Fund (ATRF). In a news release on 12 January 2021, Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) President Jason Shilling responded to the existence of the Ministerial Order on the ATRF website. Mr. Schilling of the ATA pointed out that the current outcome- an imposed IMA- was inconsistent with claims made by Finance Minister Toews when defending Bill 22, Reform of Agencies, Boards and Commissions and Government Enterprises Act. Bill 22 legislated the transfer of assets from ATRF management to the Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) to occur by the end o...

11Jan

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Energy, Fiscal History, Government Finances

Hyndman Papers-Budget, NEP and Production Cutbacks

In this densely worded 4-page memorandum and Appendix from Deputy Provincial Treasurer A.F. "Chip" Collins to Treasurer Lou Hyndman, a financial analysis is undertaken by the staff within Fiscal Policy & Economic Analysis. The initials at the end of the memorandum indicate G. Lynn Duncan an Assistant Deputy Provincial Treasurer and A.G . (Arnie) Heisler, the Comptroller were its principal authors. This memorandum responds to a number of questions posed to the department in early March. The central question to be answered was "what is the value of the foregone production and is there a financial reward from shutting in production?" This would have been also been a central question for the Notley government back in 2017-18 when the differential was so low certain segments of the oil ind...

7Jan

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Economic Data, Employment, Energy, Fiscal History

Hyndman papers- preparations for 1981-82 budget

There are a number of interesting things in the following memo to the Priorities Committee of Cabinet taken from the Hyndman papers. It is March 1981 and there is enormous uncertainty which the Lougheed government has not been accustomed to. A global recession going on and the National Energy Program has thrown the Lougheed government curves never faced before including higher levels of unemployment. This was a government that had enjoyed the spoils of office for nearly a decade and those spoils are under assault from outside forces over which it has no control. The response of the federal government ("Ottawa government" or "Trudeau government") has chosen to protect the interests of the consuming provinces- the most populous provinces of Ontario (over 100 seats) and Quebec (75 seats). ...

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...

21Dec

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Agencies, ATB, Financial Institutions, Loan Losses, Politics

Bill 44 brings Alberta governments new supervisory powers over ATB Financial

Flying under the radar, the Finance Minister on 3 November introduced Bill 44 the Financial Statutes Amendment Act, an innocuous sounding Bill with important implications for ATB Financial. Minister Toews described the Bill as reducing red tape for "Alberta job creators while improving the resilience of Alberta's financial institutions." The Bill will improve Alberta’s regulatory environment and the competitiveness of Alberta’s financial sector. It will help Alberta attract much-needed investment and job creation in support of our economic recovery plan, and it will balance the government’s commitment to responsible oversight of Alberta’s financial institutions with their need to compete and evolve. However underneath the standard rhetoric of red tape reduction, job creation, and investme...