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1. Kenney government squanders opportunity to strengthen path to balanced budget

   In its recent budget, the Alberta government projected it will collect more revenue over the next few years than originally forecasted in its first budget last year. That’s good news for a province trying to balance its budget. But this ...

2. Kenney buys another ticket for the resource roller-coaster

   Appeared in the Edmonton Journal, March 3, 2020 The Kenney government has promised to balance the budget by 2022/23. Its plan to get there, however, relies on rapid increases in natural resource revenues. In other words, the government plans to take ...

3. Kenney government faces more hard choices with second budget

   Appeared in the Calgary Sun, February 26, 2020 Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson once famously said “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” In other words, it’s often easier to devise a plan for success than it is to ...

4. Government debt-interest payments already hurting Albertans

   Appeared in the Calgary Sun, February 5, 2020 Over the past decade, much has been made of the rapid deterioration of Alberta’s government finances—and with good reason. As recently as 2014/15, Alberta had no net debt at all, meaning the province’s ...

5. Complacency about Alberta’s debt is a dangerous mistake

   Appeared in the Edmonton Sun, January 22, 2020 Alberta is racking up debt faster than any other province in Canada, and proponents of complacency are making a dangerous mistake. It’s widely known that Alberta’s finances are a mess. This year, the ...

6. Spending reductions in the 1990s dwarf Kenney’s budget plans

   Appeared in the Calgary Sun, December 11, 2019 The Kenney government’s first budget, tabled in the fall, has attracted more attention and commentary than most provincial budgets. Critics predict harmful economic effects due to the planned spending ...

7. What’s Changed, By How Much, and What Remains to be Done: An Analysis of Alberta’s Budget

   Since 2008/09, Alberta has run a nearly uninterrupted string of budget deficits. This bulletin analyzes the recently tabled 2019 Alberta budget to assess the extent to which it represents a change of course from the policy approach that has ...

8. Alberta ready for another ride on the Resource Revenue Roller-coaster

   Appeared in Maclean's, December 4, 2019 Alberta’s government finances are in shambles. Last year, the province ran a $6.7 billion operating deficit. Even this deficit number, however, understates Alberta’s fiscal woes because last year the government ...

9. Premier Ford should look west for deficit-reduction strategy

   Appeared in the Ottawa Sun, October 30, 2019 Last week, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s government tabled its first budget, which was also likely Alberta’s most consequential budget in 25 years. Indeed, with its first budget, the Kenney government promised ...

10. Alberta’s era of fiscal complacency is over

    Appeared in the Calgary Herald, October 24, 2019 On Thursday, the United Conservative Party led by Premier Jason Kenney delivered its first budget. On the campaign trail, UCP members regularly stressed the need to tackle Alberta’s deficit, which is ...