Another painful year in Alberta, but NDP government sees positive economic signs
EDMONTON — Alberta ended its most recent fiscal year with a $10.8 billion deficit and $33.3 billion in debt, but Finance Minister Joe Ceci said Thursday the economic outlook is improving and the NDP government still plans to balance its books in six years.
The province’s year-end financial statement said the Alberta economy shrank by more than seven per cent over 2015 and 2016 as the cratering in oil prices led to tens of thousands of layoffs and sharply cut government revenues.
Ceci said the Fort McMurray wildfire, which knocked major oilsands projects offline for weeks and forced more than 80,000 from their homes for a month or more, compounded an already dire situation.
“The oil price collapse together with the Wood Buffalo wildfire reverberated throughout our economy,” he said.