CALGARY – Alberta Premier Rachel Notley says her government has been forced to pick from a menu of bad options due to the crude price collapse.
Notley says she’s not happy that Alberta is on track to run a deficit of more than $10 billion in the next fiscal year.
READ MORE: Alberta on track for record deficit, says Finance minister Ceci
But she says Alberta is not the only government going through rough times.
Notley says there’s some room to cut spending, but not at the expense of critical services.
The U.S. benchmark price of oil is above US$33 a barrel — a staggering drop from its mid-2014 high of US$108 a barrel.
Every $1 drop in the average price of oil over the course of a year drains $170 million from Alberta’s coffers.
READ MORE: Feds allocate $250M to help Alberta; Notley welcomes it but ‘not enough’
Watch below: Alberta’s bottom line is billions of dollars worse than projected just three and a half months ago. The dramatic drop in oil prices is squarely to blame. Provincial affairs reporter Tom Vernon has the numbers.