With a large deficit looming, it's a good time to put Alberta’s finances in longer-term perspective.

There’s increasing evidence of a relationship between entrepreneurship and age. Younger people are less risk-averse than older people, and more prone to question the status quo. These characteristics are fundamental to entrepreneurism. So how can government influence entrepreneurship to mitigate these demographic effects?

In Alberta, to cushion the blow from falling revenues, some claim higher taxes will balance the books. How soon we forget. Alberta tried that in the late 1980s. It didn’t work.