Albertans concerned by NDP’s fiscal policy 1 year after orange crush: poll

EDMONTON — With the approaching anniversary of one of the greatest political upsets in recent Canadian political history, new numbers from an exclusive poll conducted for Global News suggest Albertans are concerned with the Notley government’s fiscal plan.

Scroll down to read the full poll results.

READ MORE: Gauging the government: How the NDP won in Alberta

Thursday marks exactly one year since the Alberta NDP’s crushing defeat of a PC dynasty that lasted 44 years. But with oil prices still slumping almost two years after they first began to plunge, Premier Rachel Notley and her government have taken a different approach to the ailing economy than their Tory predecessors did, maintaining spending for government services by running a massive deficit of more than $10 billion this year.

READ MORE: Alberta Budget 2016: NDP opts to spend big, deficit hits $10.4B

In an Ipsos poll conducted on behalf of Global News between April 27 and May 2, only 33 per cent of respondents agreed Alberta’s NDP government is presenting the best plan for Alberta’s long term financial prosperity, while 67 per cent disagreed.

WATCH:  Political analyst Dr. Bob Murray joined Global News Morning to share his thoughts on how Rachel Notley’s NDP government has fared, and reacted to a recent Ipsos poll conducted for Global.

5:57 Political analyst Bob Murray on 1 year with a NDP government

The NDP government ran last year’s election campaign promising to diversify the economy and reduce the province’s dependence on oil revenues. But the Ipsos poll suggests Albertan’s aren’t sold that the NDP’s policies will do that. Just 44 per cent of respondents agreed Alberta’s NDP government’s plan for the economy will diversify the provincial economy to weather future oil and gas price collapses compared to 56 per cent who disagreed.

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READ MORE: Notley talks entrepreneurism, diversification in State of the Province address

As for the NDP’s recent commitment to maintaining spending and running deficits while Alberta’s copes with the collapse of oil prices, the poll’s findings suggest most Albertans are concerned with the plan.

Sixty-five per cent of respondents said they agree Alberta’s NDP government’s plan for the economy will cripple our future generations with unpaid debt while 35 per cent disagreed.

Exclusive Global News Ipsos polls are protected by copyright. The information and/or data may only be rebroadcast or republished with full and proper credit and attribution to “Global News Ipsos.” This poll involved online interviews with a sample of 804 Albertans from Ipsos’ online panel between April 27 and May 2 , 2016 on behalf of Global News and is accurate to within +/ – 4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Albertan adults been polled. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.