Fraser Institute report says deficits are slashing Alberta assets

CALGARY – The Fraser Institute says chronic deficits have helped slash the value of Alberta’s net financial assets by 65 per cent in six years.

A new study, called “Alberta’s Double-Dip Decline in Financial Assets, says that amounts to about $22.4 billion.

The study says the trend mimics the decline in Alberta’s net financial assets during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

That’s the last time the province ran chronic deficits.

Worse, the study says the decline was calculated only until the end of March 2013, so it doesn’t reflect the costs of relief for homeowners and businesses hit in the June floods.

The study says Alberta’s net financial assets declined to just $12.1 billion by 2012-13 from $34.5 billion in 2006-07.