• Projects $5.3 billion deficit in 2013-14, $8.7 billion debt
• Details $2.4 billion in real spending reductions
• Lays out plan to make Alberta debt-free by the end of 2016-17

CALGARY, AB: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today released Rebuilding the Alberta Advantage, its plan to balance the budget by the end of next year without raising taxes. 

Rebuilding the Alberta Advantage lays out in detail $2.4 billion in real spending reductions, or $3.1 billion less than the government is planning on spending this next year. Cuts include:

• Enforcing a cross-government hiring and wage freeze to save $751 million;
• Reducing non-front line bureaucrats by 5 per cent to save $150 million;
• Extending the five-year Capital Plan over seven-years to save $1.6 billion; and
• Eliminating $141 million in corporate welfare subsidies.

“Don’t let our politicians tell you it can’t be done,” said CTF Alberta Director, Derek Fildebrandt. “The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has a detailed plan to first erase our $5.3 billion deficit by the end of 2015-16, and than make our province debt-free again by the end of 2016-17.”

The CTF’s analysis projects that if we continue down the path laid out by the Redford government, Alberta will have a $5.3 billion deficit for the closing of 2013-14 and a debt of $8.7 billion, which will grow to $17 billion by the end of 2015-16. 

Fildebrandt will present the CTF’s pre-budget submission and recommendations, Rebuilding the Alberta Advantage, to the Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith and Wildrose Finance Critic Rob Anderson, and Liberal Finance Critic Kent Hehr. For the first time in its 24-year history, the Alberta Finance Minister declined to meet with the CTF to discuss its budget proposals.  

Rebuilding the Alberta Advantage can be downloaded here: taxpayer.com/media/Rebuilding%20the Alberta Advantage Derek Fildebrandt(1).pdf