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1. 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 ...

2. Balance Alberta’s budget sooner—limit growth of debt interest costs

   The Government of Alberta has run nearly uninterrupted deficits since 2008/09, through good economic times and bad. These deficits have taken a serious toll on Alberta’s once strong public finances. Before this string of deficits, the ...

3. Kenney shouldn’t dither—upcoming budget should be bullish on deficit, taxes

   Appeared in the Calgary Herald, October 15, 2019 After a panel led by Janice MacKinnon, former Saskatchewan finance minister, released its “Blue Ribbon” report on Alberta’s finances last month, many observers thought Alberta was finally getting serious ...

4. ‘Blue Ribbon’ recommendations can help repair Alberta’s finances

   Earlier today, the Government of Alberta released the recommendations of its “Blue Ribbon Panel” on Alberta’s finances. The report provides a thorough overview of the challenges Alberta’s government faces related to deficits and debt ...

5. Lessons from the Lone Star State: Comparing the Economic Performance of Alberta and Texas

   This bulletin compares the economic and fiscal performance of the Canadian province of Alberta and the American state of Texas in recent years and provides a brief discussion of how different policy choices may be contributing to the divergent ...

6. Alberta’s smaller than anticipated deficit shouldn’t lead to complacency

   Appeared in the Calgary Sun, July 10, 2019 Alberta’s yearend financial report was released at the end of June, and painted a slightly less dim view of provincial finances than previously forecasted. The provincial deficit clocked-in at $6.7 billion, ...

7. Alberta's election is over—now comes the hard part

   Last week, Albertans went to the polls and gave Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party a majority government. While Kenney has earned a mandate to govern for four years, the hard work of rebuilding the province’s fiscal and economic ...

8. Alberta throne speech disconnected from reality

   The Alberta government Monday delivered its throne speech for 2019. Unfortunately, the speech seemed utterly disconnected from the fiscal and economic challenges facing Alberta and the corresponding need for an ambitious policy response. ...

9. A Spending Framework for Alberta: Balancing the Need for Deficit Elimination and Tax Reform

   This paper calculates the extent of spending reductions that Alberta would need to make over the next three years to eliminate the province’s budget deficit by fiscal year 2021/22 while also creating the necessary fiscal room for pro-growth tax relief. ...

10. Premier Notley's 'clear path' to budget balance is anything but clear

    Alberta is piling up debt at a historically rapid pace. ...