| In 1987, the value of Alberta’s Heritage Savings and Trust Fund stood at $12.7 billion. That year, the province faced a massive budget deficit and transfers to the fund from resource revenues were suspended. Such deposits did not resume again until almost two decades later and only lasted two years before being suspended again.
There is little doubt of the severity of the financial difficulties facing Alberta. In many ways it’s the late 1980s all over again. Alberta has again squandered a period of pronounced prosperity and ended up with unsustainable deficits, the likelihood of mounting debt, and no savings. While reform and reduction of spending will have to be undertaken in the short term to achieve a balanced budget, the province should not forget or ignore the need for longer term reform...............................................Full Article: Source
|