Alberta can’t tax its way back to fiscal health. Spending restraint a la Ralph Klein is the answer, argues author Mike Milke
Albertans go to the polls on April 16, choosing between Don Getty and Ralph Klein for premier. Or close enough. The incumbent New Democrats are Don Getty come back to life, with a side serving of Trudeau-esque identity politics. The United Conservative Party might be the return of Ralph Klein.
“In 1993 and 2015, two Alberta premiers faced similar economic and fiscal challenges: low or declining energy prices, a weak economy and relatively high government spending by their predecessors,” writes Milke of the situations facing Klein in 1993 and Notley in 2015.
Klein’s balanced budgets and then surpluses permitted the government to go debt-free by 2005. A government free of debt-service costs can keep taxes low, attracting investment and economic growth, or expand spending. In his first years as premier, Klein faced annual debt-service charges of close to $3 billion. When Alberta became debt-free, that was $3 billion more that Albertans had in tax savings or new spending.
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