Reading Time: 3 minutes The silver lining for Albertans is that until last year it was the only province with no net debt. But that’s changing quickly and the burden falls on taxpayers
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.
Ontario reopens spending tap, exposing province to more risk
Reading Time: 3 minutes Despite tabling Ontario’s first balanced operating budget in a decade, there are signs the government plans to go right back to undisciplined spending
Teacher’s ‘me too’ clause puts Alberta in a fiscal squeeze
Reading Time: 3 minutes The stakes in collective bargaining sessions remain high. Alberta faces a $10.3-billion budget deficit with more big deficits planned
Misconceptions threaten funding for B.C. independent schools
Reading Time: 3 minutes Removing partial public funding for independent schools based on a series of misconceptions does nothing to improve education
Trudeau government ditches another fiscal pledge
Reading Time: 4 minutes Broken promises put the country’s finances at considerable risk as the Liberal government keeps moving the goalposts on balancing the budget
Alberta’s 2017 budget a bad case of déjà vu
Reading Time: 3 minutes Deciding to push ahead with further spending increases and hope for revenues to fill the budget gap represents a failure to learn from the past
Alberta NDP rejects prosperous polices of the Chretien era
Reading Time: 4 minutes Approach reminiscent of the failed deficit-reduction strategies of Alberta governments throughout the 1970s and 1980s
Getting the facts straight on Alberta independent school funding
Reading Time: 3 minutes The case for Alberta defunding independent schools is being made largely on the basis of mistaken analysis
Controlling compensation costs can help Alberta rein in spending
Reading Time: 3 minutes Enact measures linking the wages and benefits of government employees to similar positions in the private sector
Did the Alberta government really slow down spending growth?
Reading Time: 3 minutes The recently released fiscal update shows program spending up nearly 10 per cent from last year’s level