Government Spending & Taxes

The Decline of the Other Alberta Advantage: Debt Service Costs in Alberta Are Rising finds that every Albertan will pay, on average, $442 this year in interest on the province’s growing debt, compared to just $58 a decade ago. And if the province’s debt trend continues, debt-servicing costs may exceed $1,000 per person within the next 10 years.

Why Is Alberta’s Deficit Still So Big? finds that the province’s $8.8 billion deficit this year is not primarily due to low oil prices, but is largely a product of the Notley government’s spending decisions. In fact, if the current government had adhered to the spending plan it inherited from its predecessor laid out in the 2015 budget, the deficit today would be approximately $3 billion—less than half of the deficit actually posted in the recent provincial budget.

Back on Track: How the Federal Liberals Can Deliver Their Promised Balanced Budget by 2019/20 finds that a modest one per cent reduction in program spending—spread out over two years—would achieve budget balance. Incidentally, since coming into office in 2015, the federal Liberals have increased program spending by 20.1 per cent ($51 billion) in just three years.