Recently, the Government of Alberta created a survey, asking Albertans how they want to deal with the looming lack of money. http://www.alberta.ca/Budget.cfm
My friend Gordon immediately pointed out the most hilariously Albertan thing about the survey, and it happened in the very first question:
Seems like a valid question, no? Wait, what was the last part of that sentence??
It doesn’t say, “government’s ability to BALANCE the budget?” or “government’s ability to pay for important infrastructure?” But what impact will the price of oil have on their ability to budget… at all? Budget anything? Why would a change in oil prices have any impact on our government’s ability to budget?
You see to budget is to plan… well, hang on, since I know how to use the snip tool now…
That’s right, if the price of oil goes down, we are expected to question our government’s ability to plan its finances at all. Does MS Excel freeze up when crude hits $45/barrel?
Oh, I should also mention, if you think maybe a (higher) carbon levy, or perhaps increased royalty revenues should be considered as a means of balancing the budget, you’re going to have to write it in yourself. The price of oil has dropped so low that it’s affecting their ability to do their number one job: representing our interests ahead of the energy industry’s.