Alberta’s economy is still on shaky ground as oil prices remain depressed relative to last year’s levels.
government spending
June 5, 2015
9:00AM
The Ontario government has never made a secret of its desire to have the federal government help fund Ontario’s provincial budget. It even started its own think-tank with $5 million in 2009, which regularly publishes reports that call on the federal government to rescue Ontario’s provincial finances.
May 23, 2015
9:00AM
The new Alberta government has delayed introducing a budget until the fall, so MLAs will have plenty of time to think about how they’ll collect and spend Albertans’ money.
May 16, 2015
9:00AM
Provincial cries for more federal money are as old as Confederation, and rarely have any substance to them.
May 9, 2015
8:00AM
In a famous explanation of why voters choose the governments they do, a 1990s-era adviser to Bill Clinton remarked, “It’s the economy, stupid.” That’s not wholly accurate; voters toss parties out (and vote parties in) on matters other than unemployment rates and incomes. The recent Alberta election is only the most obvious example.
May 8, 2015
9:00AM
Once the euphoria of the Alberta NDP’s historic election victory subsides, Premier-elect Notley and her leadership team will have to make a fundamental decision about the fiscal-policy path the new government will pursue. This decision will shape the immediate and future prosperity of Albertans.
May 2, 2015
6:00AM
In a recent column in the Edmonton Journal, a local historian mused that modern governments have become too enamoured with “the unfettered market of purely economic conservatism.” He then equated higher taxes and more government spending with compassion.
April 29, 2015
7:00AM
As expected, the 2015 federal budget had the general feel of an election budget, with a small surplus and a smattering of initiatives to satisfy various voting groups.
April 25, 2015
10:00AM
Imagine you’re near what you thought was a dormant volcano but it suddenly erupts. Assuming you escape, you might later reflect that there was nothing “sudden” about it.
April 23, 2015
6:00AM
Ontario’s 2015 budget, like those of years past, needed a concrete plan to get government finances on a sound footing. Yet again, the budget failed to deliver.