by Ken Kobly, CEO

Alberta Chambers of Commerce

The Alberta Chambers of Commerce (ACC) isn’t impressed with last week’s provincial budget which ratchets up spending and pretty much ignores the Heritage Trust Fund.

In the months leading up to the Stelmach government’s first budget, ACC had been trying to convince the province to cap spending at the sum of inflation plus population growth. That would have meant limiting government expenditures to 6.9 per cent in Budget 2007.

Instead, we saw a 17-per-cent increase over the spending levels of Budget 2006. We maintain that these kinds of expenditures are unsustainable.

ACC has also told Premier Ed Stelmach and Finance Minister Lyle Oberg that it’s time to start securing Alberta’s future by building up the Alberta Heritage Savings and Trust Fund.

We hoped they would begin making regular deposits of 20 to 30 per cent of non-renewable resource revenue into Albertans’ “RRSP fund.”

According to Vision 2020, ACC’s multi-year, multi-phase research project with the Certified General Accountants Association of Alberta, our province has failed to follow the lead of jurisdictions like Norway and Alaska, which have built up multi-billion dollar funds that ensure they’ll have a stable revenue source down the road.

Although the Stelmach government is setting aside significant funds in the Sustainability Fund, we believe Albertans would rather see that money secured from political whim by depositing it in the Heritage Fund.

An aspect of Budget 2007 that did please our organization is this government’s commitment to help create a stronger and more stable fiscal foundation for municipalities. However, ACC was also looking for meaningful tax relief in Budget 2007 and that didn’t happen.

Since Minister Oberg didn’t have a lot of time to craft this budget, we look forward to more prudent, longterm thought reflected in Budget 2008.