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1. Four reasons why Alberta’s vague balance budget plan may fall short

   Last month, when Finance Minister Joe Ceci unveiled Alberta’s 2018 budget, despite weeks stoking expectations of a detailed plan to eliminate the province’s budget deficit, he instead delivered a risky plan almost entirely reliant on ...

2. Surprise—Alberta’s government debt burden is approaching Quebec’s

   The recent provincial budgets released by the Quebec and Alberta governments are a study in contrasts of government debt. On one hand, Quebec has a high-debt government that’s aiming to reduce its debt burden. On the other hand, Alberta ...

3. Alberta’s 2018 budget—a breathtaking exercise in complacency

   Yesterday, the Alberta government released its budget for the 2018/19 fiscal year. The document is essentially a status quo budget, which promises continued nominal spending growth over the rest of its fiscal plan (though more moderate ...

4. Notley following Rae’s fiscal model—and getting the same results

   In 2015, Premier Notley’s incoming NDP government found itself at a crossroads when it came to handling Alberta’s deteriorating public finances. As detailed by a Fraser Institute study from that year, various past provincial NDP ...

5. Alberta should look to France, Germany and Australia to improve its health-care system

   The office of the auditor general of Alberta recently delivered a report on the province’s expensive but underperforming health-care system. During an interview, the auditor general (Merwan Saher) rhetorically asked reporters “You are ...

6. Alberta teachers’ ‘me too’ clause strengthens case for public-sector wage restraint

   The Alberta Teacher’s Association recently ratified a tentative two-year agreement with the provincial government after a four-day voting period last week. Yesterday, the Calgary Sun reported that Alberta's school boards also ...

7. Saskatchewan and Alberta—two vastly different fiscal paths

   Earlier today, Premier Brad Wall’s government in Saskatchewan tabled its budget for 2017/18. It was impossible not to immediately notice some obvious points of contrast between this document and the budget tabled by Premier Rachel Notley ...

8. Spending growth by successive Alberta governments primary reason for big deficit

   Albertans are well aware that their provincial government is set to run a budget deficit this year that may exceed $10 billion. Many may assume this is simply due to a decline in government revenue, driven by lower resource prices. But ...

9. Dear Minister Ceci, when you’re in a hole, stop digging

   Finance Minister Joe Ceci (pictured above) released Alberta’s Second Quarter Fiscal Update this week, confirming that the province’s budget deficit this year will be even bigger than forecasted in his spring budget. While the budget ...

10. Spending choices, not a drop in oil prices, spurred Alberta’s chronic deficits

    Avoiding deficits during an oil boom should be a relatively straightforward proposition for governments in oil-rich jurisdictions. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case in Alberta. A recent Fraser Institute study compared how Alberta ...