Former Liberal leader sheds light on new book about Alberta budget

Former Liberal leader Kevin Taft spoke to a University of Alberta audience last week about his new book Follow The Money, which attempts to figure out why the province of Alberta — the owners of the largest petroleum reserves in the western hemisphere — are running deficits and draining Alberta’s heritage fund.

There are 51,900 barrels of oil per Albertan, and with each barrel currently worth $80, Alberta remains one of the most prosperous provinces in Canada. It was this tidbit that inspired Taft to delve into Alberta’s wealth, and ultimately write his new book.

Taft believes the media has fed misguided information to the public about budget cuts and layoffs in sectors like education and health care.

“We’re told over and over that Alberta is a really rich place,” Taft said. “Yet, we have a government that’s running deficits, we’re cutting back on services, raising tuition fees and laying off teachers.” 

With the assistance of economists Mel McMillan and Junaid Jahangir, Taft and his team dug through Statistic Canada records from 1980-2009 to analyze the distribution of wealth in Alberta in the sectors of health care, education, public sector wages and Alberta savings.

By accounting for inflation and population growth, Taft found that the amount of wealth invested into public services is not as hefty a number as the government would like us to believe.

The health care sector has only experienced a 24 per cent change since the early ‘90s. Of all the sectors, Taft said the most distressing one is Alberta’s heritage fund, which is worth less today than in the year it was founded.

“Constantly, interest groups and governments play with numbers by not accounting for inflation of the population,” Taft said.

Alberta’s colossal wealth is not being distributed evenly, and public services are not receiving anywhere near the optimal amount, according to Taft. Even though Canadian law dictates that the provincial government is obligated to distribute the wealth of oil and gas to Albertans through public services, Taft’s study proves that this is not the case.

“The economy has grown 76 per cent, so I thought of it in terms of pizza. From 1989 to 2008, Alberta’s economy has grown from a medium pizza to an XL,” Taft explained.

“Public services in 1989 were getting two slices of pizza. Twenty years later, we’re still only getting two slices, and public savings are actually getting a smaller piece than 20 years ago.”

Corporate profits have risen 300 per cent since the early ‘90s due the oilsands, making up 22 per cent of Alberta’s economy, while American corporations only make up 11 per cent of the US economy. 

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