Alberta’s boom-bust economy is once again booming. It’s a sonic boom, really — one that is shattering records fiscally and promising to wreak havoc politically. The windfall will, among other things, fundamentally change the shape of the United Conservative Party’s race to replace Jason Kenney.
The numbers are staggering. A year ago, the Alberta government predicted it would collect $44 billion in revenue and run a whopping $18-billion deficit in the 2021-22 fiscal year.
Instead, the province collected a record $68 billion in revenue and the deficit has been transformed into a $4-billion surplus. That’s a $22-billion turnaround.
Alberta may have been riding an energy-revenue roller-coaster for decades but never anything like this. Two years ago, the province endured a stomach-churning Drop of Doom to the basement when oil prices went negative. Now, Albertans are riding a slingshot to the stratosphere.
For the rest of this column: https://www.thestar.com/politics/political-opinion/2022/06/28/alberta-is-flush-with-cash-again-and-it-will-change-the-race-to-replace-jason-kenney.html