In the past week, there have been a few things that have been noticeably disturbing and should be cause for Albertans to exercise caution for the next few months.
The first sign was the number of companies who look for and pump oil and gas out of the ground cutting their budgets for the 2015 drilling season, some by as much as 90 per cent.
Next it was a barrel of oil reaching below the $50 U.S. mark for the first time in since 2009 and big companies like Shell planning to cut hundreds of jobs.
And then to top it all off, Premier Jim Prentice came out to a podium to provide Albertans – for all intents and purposes – with the dark clouds before the now obvious financial storm about to hit the province like a Siberian High when the ruling Alberta Tory government produces its latest budget sometime this spring.
It’s not as if this is unexpected, but Prentice’s message made it seem like he was preparing the province to expect the unexpected.
Using phrases such as ‘every Albertan will be touched by this budget’ and ‘worst financial position in 25 years’ has those of us old enough to remember the lean 80’s and the Klein cuts shivering at the thought of what potentially is coming down the pipe.
Maybe Prentice is simply ensuring the people are prepared for the worst in order to make it seem like what actually happens not so bad.
However, spouting about going from a $1.5 billion surplus to a $500 million deficit to go along with ‘belt-tightening measures’ the government will be taking to show Albertans they too are doing what they can to ‘weather the storm’ certainly doesn’t instill confidence that some sort of financial hit is coming our way.
Will it be the return of health care premiums that were removed?
Could it be the installation of the dreaded sales tax that Alberta has been bucking for decades?
Might it be program and service cuts similar to what Klein put in place, coupled with changes to the tax structure and new revenue sources such as user fees?
Or, will the government simply do just enough to stave off the bleeding and borrow their way through what some experts believe is a rather short-term (less than two year) blip on the fiscal radar.
Whatever form the fiscal restraints, revenue streams and budgetary measures Prentice and his special committee put in place, Albertans will not escape the hit – one way or another.
