The former Saskatchewan NDP Finance minister and current president's fellow of the University of Calgary (UofC) released a paper outlining several policy recommendations for the forthcoming and future Alberta budgets in 2023..Janice MacKinnon and Jack Mintz collaborated to release a new 62 page paper "Alberta 2023 and beyond: Fiscal policy, health care and federal-provincial relations," to offer policy recommendations on Alberta’s program spending, revenue reforms, resource development and climate change policy.."The Alberta government has made important and sometimes challenging decisions to position the province well for the future," the paper states.."Spending has been reduced, health care and post-secondary education have been restructured and a mix of tax cuts, regulatory reform, and innovative training and retraining initiatives have led to economic growth, diversification of the economy and high levels of in-migration into the province.".However, more needs to be done the duo claim, especially in health care..Proposed changes in the paper include revamping seniors care, moving more procedures to clinics, encouraging more virtual care, and making changes to the funding of health care.."The pandemic and the challenges posed by the structure of Medicare have limited the pace and scope of change. The pandemic worsened wait times for care and added significant costs to health care budgets," the paper stated.."The government should continue to outsource nonclinical support services, following the examples of provinces like Ontario and BC that outsourced their food services to third-party vendors, resulting in an increase of between 5% and 15% in patient satisfaction and cost reductions of between 5% and 20%.".In post-secondary education, the paper notes Alberta needs to take full advantage of having the youngest population in Canada by encouraging more young people to remain in the province for post-secondary education.."It also needs to enhance training and retraining programs and reduce barriers to immigration by doing more to recognize professional credentials," the paper stated..While other provinces grapple with the fiscal and economic costs of an aging population, the average age in Alberta in 2021 was 38.9, almost 3 years below the national average. Also, the number of Albertans aged 18-24, which has been flat for about 15 years, will increase by one-third over the next decade.."It is critical that the Alberta government act decisively and quickly to take advantage of the projected 100,000 increase in 18-24-year-olds." the paper stated..A major challenge for the province was also outlined. That challenge is addressing federal government climate change policies.."Since both federal and provincial governments have jurisdiction over climate change, cooperative federalism, in which the two levels of government respect each," the paper said.."The paper said the UCP government should challenge unilateral federal decisions that adversely affect Alberta’s natural resources, over which the province has constitutional jurisdiction.".One option outlined in the paper would be for Alberta to initiate a court challenge to the constitutionality of the federal government imposing differing emissions reduction targets and time frames on various sectors of the economy, especially regarding natural resources.."The Supreme Court decision in support of the carbon tax stated that the federal government had the jurisdiction to provide for a regime to provide minimum greenhouse gas prices across the country," the paper said.."The province must also address its high personal income tax rates, which discourage work effort, investment, and risk-taking, all of which are particularly important for an economy that relies on entrepreneurship and highly skilled labour.".The paper notes Alberta made strides in improving corporate tax competitiveness, but personal tax competitiveness has been "eroded by higher tax rates that the federal government and the province introduced in 2015," which has in turn led to "the disappearance of many of Alberta’s high-income taxpayers" discouraged low-income Albertans from working.."Without compromising its fiscal anchors, the province could reform its taxes by repatriating the federal fuel charge and levying its own made-in-Alberta carbon pricing system," the paper said.."The alternative would be to raise revenues by levying a health premium or an Alberta sales tax harmonized with the GST.".The duo said they believe that in this decade, Alberta will need to confront many new realities to maintain its high standard of living.."The fiscal decisions the provincial government makes in the next several years will have a significant impact on Alberta’s prosperity in decades to come," the paper said.."Other’s jurisdiction and work together on common goals — is required to make progress on reducing emissions. However, as the case of reducing emissions in the oil sands shows, the federal government often acts unilaterally, does not respect provincial jurisdiction,and establishes unrealistic and unachievable targets..The paper also recommends ways in which Alberta can challenge federal actions as well as assert its provincial jurisdiction by developing its own climate change plans.."The distinctive feature of Alberta’s finances is the remarkable swings in revenues the province must deal with due to volatile oil and gas prices," the paper said.."To help counter that volatility and to control spending, the province must develop 'fiscal anchors' whereby both politicians and the public understand: no deficits, a target level of debt relative to GDP and limiting growth in spending to population and prices..Further, the paper stated the province’s government should reduce volatility in its budgeting by paying down debt or investing its non-renewable resource revenues into an Alberta Health Plan that would operate similarly to an endowment fund with a fixed percentage of assets distributed to the provincial budget..*Correction made, wrong title was listed for president''s fellow
The former Saskatchewan NDP Finance minister and current president's fellow of the University of Calgary (UofC) released a paper outlining several policy recommendations for the forthcoming and future Alberta budgets in 2023..Janice MacKinnon and Jack Mintz collaborated to release a new 62 page paper "Alberta 2023 and beyond: Fiscal policy, health care and federal-provincial relations," to offer policy recommendations on Alberta’s program spending, revenue reforms, resource development and climate change policy.."The Alberta government has made important and sometimes challenging decisions to position the province well for the future," the paper states.."Spending has been reduced, health care and post-secondary education have been restructured and a mix of tax cuts, regulatory reform, and innovative training and retraining initiatives have led to economic growth, diversification of the economy and high levels of in-migration into the province.".However, more needs to be done the duo claim, especially in health care..Proposed changes in the paper include revamping seniors care, moving more procedures to clinics, encouraging more virtual care, and making changes to the funding of health care.."The pandemic and the challenges posed by the structure of Medicare have limited the pace and scope of change. The pandemic worsened wait times for care and added significant costs to health care budgets," the paper stated.."The government should continue to outsource nonclinical support services, following the examples of provinces like Ontario and BC that outsourced their food services to third-party vendors, resulting in an increase of between 5% and 15% in patient satisfaction and cost reductions of between 5% and 20%.".In post-secondary education, the paper notes Alberta needs to take full advantage of having the youngest population in Canada by encouraging more young people to remain in the province for post-secondary education.."It also needs to enhance training and retraining programs and reduce barriers to immigration by doing more to recognize professional credentials," the paper stated..While other provinces grapple with the fiscal and economic costs of an aging population, the average age in Alberta in 2021 was 38.9, almost 3 years below the national average. Also, the number of Albertans aged 18-24, which has been flat for about 15 years, will increase by one-third over the next decade.."It is critical that the Alberta government act decisively and quickly to take advantage of the projected 100,000 increase in 18-24-year-olds." the paper stated..A major challenge for the province was also outlined. That challenge is addressing federal government climate change policies.."Since both federal and provincial governments have jurisdiction over climate change, cooperative federalism, in which the two levels of government respect each," the paper said.."The paper said the UCP government should challenge unilateral federal decisions that adversely affect Alberta’s natural resources, over which the province has constitutional jurisdiction.".One option outlined in the paper would be for Alberta to initiate a court challenge to the constitutionality of the federal government imposing differing emissions reduction targets and time frames on various sectors of the economy, especially regarding natural resources.."The Supreme Court decision in support of the carbon tax stated that the federal government had the jurisdiction to provide for a regime to provide minimum greenhouse gas prices across the country," the paper said.."The province must also address its high personal income tax rates, which discourage work effort, investment, and risk-taking, all of which are particularly important for an economy that relies on entrepreneurship and highly skilled labour.".The paper notes Alberta made strides in improving corporate tax competitiveness, but personal tax competitiveness has been "eroded by higher tax rates that the federal government and the province introduced in 2015," which has in turn led to "the disappearance of many of Alberta’s high-income taxpayers" discouraged low-income Albertans from working.."Without compromising its fiscal anchors, the province could reform its taxes by repatriating the federal fuel charge and levying its own made-in-Alberta carbon pricing system," the paper said.."The alternative would be to raise revenues by levying a health premium or an Alberta sales tax harmonized with the GST.".The duo said they believe that in this decade, Alberta will need to confront many new realities to maintain its high standard of living.."The fiscal decisions the provincial government makes in the next several years will have a significant impact on Alberta’s prosperity in decades to come," the paper said.."Other’s jurisdiction and work together on common goals — is required to make progress on reducing emissions. However, as the case of reducing emissions in the oil sands shows, the federal government often acts unilaterally, does not respect provincial jurisdiction,and establishes unrealistic and unachievable targets..The paper also recommends ways in which Alberta can challenge federal actions as well as assert its provincial jurisdiction by developing its own climate change plans.."The distinctive feature of Alberta’s finances is the remarkable swings in revenues the province must deal with due to volatile oil and gas prices," the paper said.."To help counter that volatility and to control spending, the province must develop 'fiscal anchors' whereby both politicians and the public understand: no deficits, a target level of debt relative to GDP and limiting growth in spending to population and prices..Further, the paper stated the province’s government should reduce volatility in its budgeting by paying down debt or investing its non-renewable resource revenues into an Alberta Health Plan that would operate similarly to an endowment fund with a fixed percentage of assets distributed to the provincial budget..*Correction made, wrong title was listed for president''s fellow