Search

Search results

1. Alberta’s 10-year, $49 billion boom in program spending

   Appeared in the Calgary Herald Over the last decade, higher energy prices and entrepreneur-friendly policies drove Alberta’s booming economy, generating a significant windfall in government revenue. Looking back, however, Albertans might ask themselves: ...

2. 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 ...

3. The Myth of Education Spending Cuts in Alberta

   Appeared in the Fox Creek Times and Okotoks Western Wheel It’s budget season in Edmonton but Premier Prentice has already announced a five per cent across-the-board reduction in program spending to help deal with an expected $7 billion-plus deficit. Of ...

4. Government workers' compensation out of line with the private sector

   Appeared in the Calgary Herald As Alberta’s provincial and municipal governments grapple with declining oil revenues and a weakening economy, a sober review of government spending should be part of any belt-tightening initiative. One place to start is the ...

5. Comparing Government and Private Sector Compensation in Alberta

   With heightened interest in how wages and non-wage benefits in the government sector compare with those in the private sector, this study estimates wage differentials between the government and private sector in Alberta. It also evaluates four available ...

6. Does Alberta need a sales tax?

   Appeared in the Calgary Herald, Jan 17, 2015 With oil prices plunging and provincial resource revenues expected to drop, Alberta’s red ink will rise. In response, Premier Jim Prentice has floated the notion of a provincial sales tax and/or hikes in other ...

7. Myth of energy-induced booms and busts

   Appeared in the Medicine Hat News, Kelowna Daily Courier, and Penticton Herald There is a prominent view among some in Alberta’s provincial government and elsewhere in the province that believes booms and busts in government finances are a result of the ...

8. Who Could Object to a Carbon Tax?

   Appeared in The Province, Huffington Post, and Okanagan Saturday, Dec 5, 2014 Carbon taxes are back on centre stage in Canada, after a new “bipartisan” Ecofiscal Commission came out in favour of the idea. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne is also talking ...

9. Make housing more affordable: Increase supply

   Appeared in the Calgary Herald and Edmonton Journal When I first came to Alberta a quarter-century ago, vacancy rates in Calgary and Edmonton exceeded 10 per cent. In Edmonton, where I lived in 1988, landlords often gave one month free on an already cheap ...

10. Want smarter government? Focus it

    Appeared in the Calgary Herald, Oct 4, 2014 Murray Smith, a former Alberta cabinet minister in the Ralph Klein government, the one that privatized government liquor stores and licence registries in 1993, once told me about a side benefit of such ...