# Alberta’s finances, tied for generations to the steep peaks and sharp valleys of oil and gas prices, are once again plunging deep into deficit, with no immediate relief in sight.
>Finance Minister Nate Horner introduced a budget Thursday that projects a $5.2-billion deficit this fiscal year on total spending of $79 billion.
>That represents an $11-billion swing from the current budget, which wraps up at the end of March and is on track to register a surplus close to $6 billion.
>Horner said the red ink is mainly driven by three things: an expected decline in oil prices; the need to sock away money in case looming U.S. tariffs wreak havoc on the economy; and more than $1 billion to make good on a 2023 election promise to give Albertans a break on personal income taxes.
>[…]
>He added that if it wasn’t for the uncertainty of tariffs, he might not have supported contributing to the deficit with a tax cut.
>”We would still be in a deficit without the tariff scenario,” said Horner.
>It’s the first deficit under United Conservative Party Premier Danielle Smith and the first since the COVID-19-era budget of 2020.
>The province also projects the multibillion-dollar deficits will remain through to the 2027 provincial election.
>The budget predicts non-renewable resource revenue — including money from the oilsands — to be just over $17 billion this year, down from $22 billion in 2024.
!ping Can
OkEntertainment1313 on
Well that vote-buying looks extra stupid now.
Also partially shows why Smith was so committed to limiting the impact of a trade war on oil.
AniNgAnnoys on
Show times she goes and sometimes she doesn’t. Way of the oil boys.
Fnrjkdh on
Oh no! How could anyone have predicted this totally foreseen and expected outcome? At some point we just have to acknowledge there’s nothing that anybody can do to avoid this completely predicted outcome aside from all the things that everybody has been telling the Alberta government to do for over half a decade.
4 Comments
# Alberta’s finances, tied for generations to the steep peaks and sharp valleys of oil and gas prices, are once again plunging deep into deficit, with no immediate relief in sight.
>Finance Minister Nate Horner introduced a budget Thursday that projects a $5.2-billion deficit this fiscal year on total spending of $79 billion.
>That represents an $11-billion swing from the current budget, which wraps up at the end of March and is on track to register a surplus close to $6 billion.
>Horner said the red ink is mainly driven by three things: an expected decline in oil prices; the need to sock away money in case looming U.S. tariffs wreak havoc on the economy; and more than $1 billion to make good on a 2023 election promise to give Albertans a break on personal income taxes.
>[…]
>He added that if it wasn’t for the uncertainty of tariffs, he might not have supported contributing to the deficit with a tax cut.
>”We would still be in a deficit without the tariff scenario,” said Horner.
>It’s the first deficit under United Conservative Party Premier Danielle Smith and the first since the COVID-19-era budget of 2020.
>The province also projects the multibillion-dollar deficits will remain through to the 2027 provincial election.
>The budget predicts non-renewable resource revenue — including money from the oilsands — to be just over $17 billion this year, down from $22 billion in 2024.
!ping Can
Well that vote-buying looks extra stupid now.
Also partially shows why Smith was so committed to limiting the impact of a trade war on oil.
Show times she goes and sometimes she doesn’t. Way of the oil boys.
Oh no! How could anyone have predicted this totally foreseen and expected outcome? At some point we just have to acknowledge there’s nothing that anybody can do to avoid this completely predicted outcome aside from all the things that everybody has been telling the Alberta government to do for over half a decade.