Back in the mid-1990s, British Columbias New Democratic government published a pre-election budget that forecast a balanced ledger for the then-ending fiscal year. The Glen Clark government quickly dropped the writ and narrowly won re-election.
But soon after the election, the government revised its forecast. A deficit of almost $400-million was predicted, about what some private forecasters predicted back when the original budget was released.
If, as the newly released census data indicates, youre one of many arrivals to Alberta in the last half-decade, heres the shortcut to understanding Albertas politicians: On budget day, they replay their favourite spend-now, tax-later 1980s tunes.
Some history: Between the fiscal years 1986 and 1994 (fiscal years end March 31), the province of Alberta ran nine consecutive deficits. That happened because for too long, politicians assumed boom-time revenues would soon return. They were mistaken.