Austerity measures have been rejected by the Alberta government, and this means that the government will borrow millions and break the debt ceiling in just 3 short years. The region has seen a drop in the resource revenues available by a staggering 90%, and the current estimate for royalty revenues is the lowest it has been since the year 1974 at only $1.4 billion. The 2016 budget was recently released and it shows a deficit of around $10.4 billion. This holds true to a promise by Premier Rachel Notley to forget about using austerity measures to pay down the current debt. In a speech by Finance Minister Joe Ceci he said “It would only cause more pain and economic anxiety, tearing at the fabric of our communities and making a difficult situation that much worse. We will not make the choice of balancing our books and reducing our debt on the backs of Albertans.”

Since austerity measures have been rejected by the Alberta government this means deficits will increase, but some are disappointed in how and when the budget funding will be doled out. Many Fort McMurray projects promised funding last year will still receive funds, but some of these projects have had funding reductions. According to Wildrose Leader Brian Jean “The NDP budget is going to make things a lot worse for Albertans. It’s going to punish families and businesses with risky ideological policies, and it will make life in Alberta significantly more expensive. The situation is that we’re at $58 billion in debt before the next election.”