alberta budget

The Alberta government often appears stuck in yesterday’s rhetoric of a debt crisis, too willing to engage in pitched battles with its civil servants, teachers, and nurses; disregarding of the needs of municipalities; and unresponsive to the plight of the poor and homelessness. 

"Alberta's 'good enough' approach to fiscal management" is the Parkland Institute's annual pre-budget report on the state of Alberta's finances. The report examines in detail the province's current revenue structure and recent expenditures with special concentration given to the areas of health, education, and social services.

The paper argues recent government fiscal policies have created an artificial revenue crisis, the result of which has been a second stage crisis involving renewed cuts to valued public services, intensified labour strife, higher costs to average Albertans, and general economic instability. The paper argues that government explanations for the crisis (e.g., that expenditures are out of control) are not substantiated by any existing data and serve only to mislead the public.

This report is an analysis of Albertans’ family incomes during the 1990s. It compares the incomes of Alberta families at all income levels, examines the income gap between the richest and poorest of families, and discusses the escalating stress that Alberta families face as they attempt to maintain their standard of living in an increasingly competitive market place.

Alberta's oil and gas resources are free gifts of nature and contribute significantly to Alberta's advantage. But are Albertans receiving maximum value from the sale of our oil and gas resources?