Reading Time: 3 minutes The basic presumption of democracy requires us to try to understand one another rather than calling opponents murderers
Author: Ben Eisen
Ben Eisen is a Senior Fellow in Fiscal and Provincial Prosperity Studies and former Director of Provincial Prosperity Studies at the Fraser Institute. He holds a BA from the University of Toronto and an MPP from the University of Toronto’s School of Public Policy and Governance. Prior to joining the Fraser Institute Mr. Eisen was the Director of Research and Programmes at the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies in Halifax. He also worked for the Citizens Budget Commission in New York City, and in Winnipeg as the Assistant Research Director for the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. Mr. Eisen has published influential studies on several policy topics, including intergovernmental relations, public finance, and higher education policy.
Alberta can’t blame the equalization system for its economic mess
Reading Time: 3 minutes Undisciplined spending by successive governments is responsible for Alberta’s fiscal problems
Alberta sinks deeper into a sea of red ink
Reading Time: 3 minutes The more the government spends on servicing its debt, the less is left over for priorities that Albertans value such as health care
No ray of sunshine in Alberta’s fiscal forecast
Reading Time: 3 minutes Rachel Notley seems intent on duplicating the deep-diving debt performance of former Ontario NDP leader Bob Rae
Alberta buys another ticket on the resource revenue roller-coaster
Reading Time: 3 minutes Despite promises to end the reliance on resource royalties, Rachel Notley’s government keeps piling up the debt and looking to the same revenue source
Alberta crushed beneath a growing mountain of debt
Reading Time: 3 minutes The slow path to balance means the province will continue adding debt by the bucketful for many years, penalizing future taxpayers
Alberta’s fiscal fiasco threat to future generations of Albertans
Reading Time: 3 minutes Despite an improving economy, the provincial government still projects $9.1-billion deficit
Balancing Alberta’s budget by 2023-24 isn’t good enough
Reading Time: 3 minutes Albertans have more debt, continued reliance on volatile natural resource revenue and higher taxes to look forward to
Alberta still loses if resource revenue removed from equalization
Reading Time: 3 minutes Options for reform are severely limited so long as a rule requiring program costs to escalate every year remains
Alberta’s disastrous fall from fiscal grace
Reading Time: 3 minutes In just 12 years, the province’s net financial position will have deteriorated by a staggering $80 billion