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1. Ottawa should make equalization more fair and shrink payments

   Albertans will likely vote on equalization in October. ...

2. Kenney government must learn from fiscal mistakes—and successes—of the past

   Alberta's deficit this year will be the largest in history, relative to the size of the provincial economy, at 6.9 per cent of GDP. ...

3. Lessons for Fiscal Reform from the Klein Era

   Alberta is facing serious fiscal challenges, including a historic deficit and rapid debt accumulation that extend beyond the COVID shock. This is not the first time Alberta’s finances have been in trouble. Today’s situation has parallels to the ...

4. Alberta’s finances—back to the ’90s?

   During the early 1990s, the federal government and many provinces faced fiscal challenges so daunting that many described the situation as a crisis. As governments across the country run historically large deficits in response to the ...

5. Another credit downgrade highlights urgent need for spending reform in Alberta

   The Government of Alberta’s credit rating was recently downgraded for the third time since December. The ratings agency, Fitch, noted that “ additional policy responses ” will be required to right the province’s finances. Credit ...

6. Measuring the cost of equalization to Albertans

   Last week, the much-anticipated report of Alberta’s “Fair Deal” panel was finally published. The panelists were charged with offering suggestions for how the governments of Alberta, Canada and other provinces can make the arrangements of ...

7. Mounting government debt threatens Alberta’s fiscal status among provinces

   Appeared in the Edmonton Journal, May 5, 2020 Recently, RBC Economics published a report on provincial finances. The report, which is clear, concise and highly informative, estimates that all the provinces taken together will this year run a cumulative ...

8. A Friend in Need: How Albertans Continue to Keep Federal Finances Afloat, 2020

   In studies published in 2017 and 2019, we measured Alberta’s net contribution to Canada’s economy during the most recent economic boom in the province. The first of these studies showed that when it comes to overall economic growth, job creation, ...

9. 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 ...

10. 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 ...