Alberta Staked Its Budget On The Price Of Oil. What Happens Now?
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says his government will not rewrite its budget in the wake of a global oil and gas price crash he called a “profound challenge for Alberta and for Canada.”
In a news conference Monday, the premier addressed the historic dip and how it will impact a province that just put forward a budget dependent on optimistic oil price projections.
“We are in uncharted territory,” Kenney said. “We cannot predict how deeply or for how long this devastating price collapse will affect us.
” The crash comes less than two weeks after Kenney’s United Conservative government put forward a provincial budget projecting increased oil prices, and with them increased royalties and revenue for the province on route to a balanced budget by 2022-23.