Alberta’s blessing, Alberta’s curse | The Narwhal:

When Alberta’s interim finance minister Jason Nixon stood before reporters
on Aug. 31 to unveil the province is anticipating a whopping $13.2
billion surplus, he argued the government was moving away from the
spending temptations of massive oil and gas revenues.

The government, he said, would pay down
the maximum amount of debt it could, $13.4 billion in total, and resist
the urge to go on a spending spree like governments past.

But the decision not to invest any of the extra cash
in building a way forward for the province represents a sort of
petro-nostalgia — the inability of the Kenney government to envision a
future that could lead to long-term stability for Alberta when the
industry withers.

Alberta’s blessing, Alberta’s curse | The Narwhal: When Alberta’s interim finance minister Jason Nixon stood before reporters
on Aug. 31 to unveil the province is anticipating a whopping $13.2
billion surplus, he argued the government was moving away from the
spending temptations of massive oil and gas revenues. The government, he said, would pay down
the maximum amount of debt it could, $13.4 billion in total, and resist
the urge to go on a spending spree like governments past.But the decision not to invest any of the extra cash
in building a way forward for the province represents a sort of
petro-nostalgia — the inability of the Kenney government to envision a
future that could lead to long-term stability for Alberta when the
industry withers.Read More