The Notley government’s failure to restrain spending is quickly growing Alberta’s debt burden.
joe ceci
The Notley government increased spending by nearly 13 per cent over is first two full fiscal years in office.
The Notley government overshot its budgeted spending levels by $2 billion in 2016/17 and $1 billion in 2017/18.
Once its net debt reaches $48 billion in 2020/21, Alberta will have burned through $83 billion in net assets in 13 years.
The $10.3 billion deficit the province plans to run this year is just shy of the provincial record of $10.8 billion set last year.
Ratings agency DBRS has downgraded Alberta’s credit rating from AA (high) to AA.
The province's projected $10.3 billion deficit for 2017/18 could be much higher.
More big deficits of $9.7 billion and $7.2 billion are projected for the next two years.
The province's net financial debt will climb by $35.4 billion between now and 2019/20.