| With the price of oil plummeting from more than $90 (U.S.) to less than $50 over the past four months, the Alberta government is suddenly looking at a $6-billion drop in non-renewable resource revenues (NRRR). The consequences seem bleak: a return to either Getty-era deficits, Klein-era budget cuts or some equally unpleasant combination of both.
Most Albertans seem surprised by these events. The implicit, if unspoken, assumption is that until the recent price collapse, everything was just fine. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Government budgeting in Alberta has been an accident-waiting-to-happen ever since then-premier Don Getty stopped depositing 15 per cent of NRRR into the Heritage Savings Fund in 1987...............................................Full Article: Source |