As expected, the 2015 federal budget had the general feel of an election budget, with a small surplus and a smattering of initiatives to satisfy various voting groups.
program spending
April 20, 2015
6:00AM
In a year when two heavyweight provinces, Ontario and Alberta, which together constitute 55 per cent of Canada’s GDP, are running substantial deficits, there are three ways to reduce the red ink.
March 28, 2015
7:00AM
With tumbling oil prices and resource revenues, Premier Jim Prentice had a choice when he delivered Alberta’s 2015 budget. He could emulate former premier Don Getty and raise taxes or follow the Ralph Klein playbook and reduce spending.
March 28, 2015
6:00AM
Premier Jim Prentice dropped hints for months that the 2015 provincial budget was a once-in-a-generation chance to “fix” Alberta’s finances.
March 16, 2015
12:00PM
In a recent column about the upcoming Metro Vancouver transit plebiscite, Vancouver Sun columnist Daphne Bramham complained about business leaders who talked “way more about cutting taxes for poor beleaguered taxpayers for the past 30 years than they have about the valuable services tax money provides.”
March 14, 2015
8:00AM
Over the past decade, the province of Alberta treated boom-time resource revenues like a permanent state of affairs. That set the province up for fiscal failure, for multiple lost opportunities.
February 21, 2015
12:00PM
Over the last decade, higher energy prices and entrepreneur-friendly policies drove Alberta’s booming economy, generating a significant windfall in government revenue.
February 19, 2015
3:00AM
February 18, 2015
2:00PM
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.
February 18, 2015
12:00PM
It’s budget season again, with provincial governments across Canada delivering their annual budgets amid a backdrop of falling commodity prices and provincial deficits. And once again, a mythology surrounding education spending will likely influence spending choices from coast to coast.