And what’s a budget without an increase in “sin taxes”?
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Losers – Drinkers and smokers: The cost of cigarettes goes up by $5 a carton.
There are also tax measures aimed to help lower-income families, including up to $2,750 for eligible families with incomes lower than $41,220. It will remain depleted until $400 million is deposited in 2019-20.
Finance Minister Joe Ceci says it’s the prudent route to go, given Alberta is caught in the vise of a growing population and a declining economy.
Garrido was in Edmonton for budget day and said she was happy with the results.
Money to help the NDP meet its promise of building 2,000 new long-term care spaces is included in the capital plan, though an exact amount has not yet been determined.
The province’s rainy day fund will run dry next year.
For the first time in more than 20 years, the Alberta government will be forced to borrow to cover its operating costs thanks to plummeting oil prices and a province-wide recession. It will draw $3 billion from its contingency account this year to keep the deficit at $6.5 billion. Mr. Ceci has said to expect “no substantive” surprises, but Albertans could face a new carbon tax or higher fees.
Wildrose Leader Brian Jean, citing recent comments from the DBRS rating agency, credit raters may have to revisit Alberta’s top-shelf AAA rating if debt approaches 15 per cent of Alberta’s gross domestic product.
“Playing around with that is something that one would have to be very careful with”, Notley said.
31,000 jobs have been lost in the private sector since December of 2014.
“In fact it turns out to be very usual at a point in time when the economy changes dramatically and revenues fall off”, he told reporters.
While Calgary got big dollars for a new cancer centre, the same was not true for the capital’s rundown Misericordia and Royal Alex hospitals, which each received $10 million for further planning.
Hanwell still raised questions about the $1 million annual government grant for student mental health services, which is up for renewal in June 2016. And this budget showcases the government’s commitment to Alberta’s future growth by providing hardworking families with a new Alberta Child Benefit, to support 235,000 children, and setting out a bold vision for sustained and diverse job growth with new initiatives across the government.
“Today’s announcements about additional funding for inclusive education, school nutrition and school fee reductions in the years ahead are positive steps towards ensuring a great school for all”.
Ceci said his message to Alberta businesses is “2016 looks better than 2015”.
Mr. Dodge isn’t the only outsider brought in by the NDP government to provide advice. The depression will limit economic growth in the province to 0.9 per cent next year, before more normal levels of two per cent are reached by 2018. “Now a few critics will believe and say that the solution to these tough times would be to fire thousands of nurses and teachers, well we aren’t going to do that”, Mr. Ceci said on Tuesday afternoon before tabling his budget in the provincial legislature.
To prevent debt from taking over, the government introduced new legislation to cap borrowing. Balanced books won’t come again for another four years, two years later than the NDP originally predicted (though one of those adjustments was because of a mid-campaign calculation error, the sort of proto-rookie mistake Alberta used to be able to shrug off when it came from this perennially minor party).
The Alberta treasury is losing $5.7 billion in revenue this year, mostly due to a deep and sustained drop in the price of oil and lower corporate taxes. The deficit this year is projected to be a record $6.1 billion.
The government is in the middle of a review of royalty rates paid by oil and gas companies and could invest new revenues in the Heritage Fund.
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– West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark price of oil, is budgeted to average US$50 barrel this fiscal year, then $61 and $68 in the following two years.
