EDMONTON – Two weeks ago, Alberta’s finance minister delivered a fiscal update. Minister Doug Horner revealed that, thanks to lower oil prices, revenue is down, and the deficit forecast is way up. And that means holding the line in labour negotiations and a review of every single capital project.
“We will make the hard decisions to honour the commitments we made to Albertans in Budget 2012…and those decisions will not be popular ones,” Horner said.
The next budget, though, might be based on a different set of circumstances.
“We’re going forward with what’s in the budget right now, but when we’re given the new budget in the new year, we’ll examine that going forward,” explains Michael Norris, with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs.
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One of the projects the province says is safe is the new Royal Alberta Museum. But there’s a long list of projects that may be on the chopping block.
Some standouts on the list include acclerating the twinning of Highway 63, new schools promised in the election, hospital and college expansions.
“There won’t be any direct funding towards an arena,” Norris adds, “but the city is open to spending the MSI funding.”
MSI is a program that transfers provincial money to municipalities for infrastructure. This year, Edmonton is set to receive $167 million MSI dollars.
For those expecting big money, political scientist Jim Lightbody says the bottom line is simple:
“Any mayor of any city in this province who thinks that there’s a spare $100 million dollars to put up an arena or even rebuild a library also believes in Santa Claus.”
You can hear more of what Lightbody had to say in the video below:
To examine the province’s capital plan, click here.
With files from Vassy Kapelos, Global News
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