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1. Notley government at two years—too much Rae, not enough Romanow

   Appeared in the Calgary Herald, May 12, 2017 Just over two years ago, Rachel Notley became the 17th Premier of Alberta. Upon taking office, Premier Notley’s government was confronted with serious fiscal challenges. Oil prices were down, the economy was ...

2. Saskatchewan has a plan to balance its budget, Alberta doesn’t

   Appeared in the Calgary Sun, March 27, 2017 Alberta and Saskatchewan are energy-rich jurisdictions that fell on hard times as commodity prices fell. And both jurisdictions face significant fiscal challenges, with large budget deficits and substantial debt ...

3. Oil prices aren’t to blame; Alberta’s budget misdiagnoses the problem

   Appeared in the Toronto Sun, November 2, 2015 If the first step towards remedying a problem is admitting that you have one, Alberta is a long way away from fixing its budget woes. Indeed, Finance Minister Joe Ceci took every opportunity in his recent ...

4. Don’t blame oil prices for Alberta’s deficit

   Appeared in the Financial Post, October 21, 2015 Alberta’s budget, to be unveiled on Oct. 27, will contain the province’s seventh deficit in the last eight years, most recently projected at $5.9 billion. A popular narrative blames declining oil prices for ...

5. Alberta's Budget Deficit: Why Spending Is to Blame

   Alberta is headed toward its seventh deficit in eight years and the province is at risk of returning to a net debt position as early as next year. A popular narrative holds that the recent fall in oil prices is responsible for the deterioration of Alberta ...

6. Fumbling the Alberta Advantage: How Alberta Squandered a Decade of High Energy Prices

   It is well-known that Alberta’s provincial budget is highly dependent on resource revenues. Over the last decade, as a proportion of total revenues, resource revenues have accounted for as much as 40% (2005/06) and as low as 19% (2009/10). In the most ...

7. Smart reform can fix Alberta’s finances

   Appeared in the Edmonton Sun The severity of Alberta’s fiscal problems hit home with many Albertans this week as Premier Prentice announced that the upcoming provincial budget will include an across-the-board five per cent spending cut. In light of ...

8. Worried about Alberta’s budget? Stop counting on high resource prices

   Appeared in the Calgary Herald Forty-one billion dollars. That’s the extra amount, over and above what was needed to keep pace with population growth and inflation between 2006 and 2013, this to fund Alberta government program spending in those years. So ...

9. Post-boom Spending in Alberta: A $41 billion splurge and lost opportunities

   The province of Alberta substantially increased program spending after 2004/05, beyond the combined effect of inflation plus population growth. The result was that in subsequent years (2005/06 to 2012/13 inclusive), the province spent $300.5 billion—$41 ...