EDMONTON, AB: The NDP government is already spending at breakneck speeds ahead of provinces like British Columbia, and will continue to risk Alberta’s prosperity by further raising taxes and bringing in permanent new government spending, Wildrose Shadow Finance Minister Derek Fildebrandt said.
The recent Q1 fiscal update showed Alberta spending over $50 billion on expenses for the first time in the province’s history. This makes Alberta among the highest spending provinces per-capita in Canada, with speculation the NDP only plans to raise spending further.
In British Columbia, a province with over 600,000 more residents than Alberta, the total expenses expected for their 2015-16 budget will come in at $45.8 billion – $4.4 billion less than Alberta.
*Not including BC Hydro, and P3 toll projects, total is only $3,731 million
| Alberta | BC | Differential | |
| Total Expense | $ 50,222 million | $ 45,831 million | $4.4 billion |
| Capital Spending | $ 7,567 million | *$6,249 million | $1.34 billion |
| Health Care | $ 18,614 million | $ 17,444 million | $1.2 billion |
| Education | $ 7,267 million | $ 5,498 million | $1.8 billion |
The numbers are based on recent Alberta Q1 2015-16 fiscal update, and BC 2015-16 budget documents.
“The PCs already had Alberta on a massive spending binge fuelled by record borrowing, and now the NDP are doubling down on even higher spending and higher taxes,” Fildebrandt said. “There are no economic grounds to believe that spending even more for spending’s sake will do anything except to exasperate the $9.1 billion deficit and continue to put the long-term prosperity of our province at risk.”