The Alberta NDP government’s budget has been met with raised eyebrows from two Calgary-based political experts.
Dr. Jennifer Winter, assistant professor and associate director of energy and environment at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy, along with Dr. Duane Bratt of Mount Royal University’s department of policy studies weighed in on the budget during an in-studio interview with Global Calgary’s Gord Gillies after the budget was released Thursday.
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Winter was most surprised by the future projections for oil prices, describing them as optimistic for what prices are now.
“With the projection of not retiring the deficit before 2024, with overly optimistic estimates about resource revenues in the future, it’s going to take a lot longer than 2024 to reduce the deficit,” she said.
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Bratt, meanwhile, found the government’s projections for unemployment to be the biggest surprise of the budget.
“Currently the unemployment in Alberta is 7.1 per cent,” said Bratt. “They’re projecting eight per cent for 2016. Is that being conservative in their forecasting, or are they expecting things to get worse before they get better?”
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Winter, who was hoping to see the government’s plan for getting off of the “royalty rollercoaster,” admitted she was disappointed there was nothing in the budget in terms of how Premier Rachel Notley’s government is planning on carrying out the plans.
“We’re not really seeing any indications of how they’re going to make up the revenue shortfall,” said Winter.
“Alberta has a lower deficit than many other provinces, so yes, we enjoy great public services, but we’ve been relying on resource revenues to fund that for far too long.”
READ MORE: Alberta Budget 2016 – What’s in it for Calgary and Lethbridge?
Both Bratt and Winter believe that the opposition will target the NDP government’s plans to “slash and burn” when it comes to provincial spending.
Watch the video above to hear Winter and Bratt’s opinions on the carbon tax, the effect the budget will have on regular Albertans, and other issues addressed in the budget.