Alberta has seen a run-up of projected net debt totalling about $10,000 per Albertan by 2019/20—up from essentially zero in 2015/16.
alberta government debt
From 2015/16 to the current fiscal year, program spending in Alberta will have increased by 11 per cent.
The first two years of the Notley government have been marked by spending and tax increases.
Over three budgets, provincial program spending in Alberta was reduced by 21.6 per cent.
The provincial government introduced numerous tax increases, essentially ending Alberta’s tax advantage relative to key competing jurisdictions.
On Tuesday, the Alberta government will release a budget with a projected deficit of at least $5.9 billion this year, the seventh deficit in eight years. And just the other day, the government announced the budget won’t be balanced until 2019/20.
Rachel Notley’s New Democratic government faces severe fiscal challenges it did not create, but it has an opportunity to solve them. Will her NDP government clean up the fiscal mess left behind by its Progressive Conservative predecessor?