EDMONTON – Official Opposition Leader Naheed Nenshi railed against Danielle Smith and the UCP government on Thursday for a lack of accountability, following the announcement of Alberta's projected $9.4 billion deficit in 2026. "Danielle Smith and the UCP have saddled future generations, our kids and our grandkids, with billions and billions of dollars of debt with no path to balance," said Nenshi. Finance Minister Nate Horner shared Alberta's 2026 budget on Thursday, revealing a projected $9.4 billion debt in 2026, along with an estimated $7.6 billion debt in 2027 and $6.9 billion in 2028. .The UCP and Smith have blamed poor oil prices and an overwhelming flow of immigrants coming to Alberta for a large portion of the deficit.Budget 2026 forecasts oil at $60.5 USD per barrel in 2026, which is $1 less than the 2025 total and $17.33 less than 2023. It predicts an upcoming boom, however, as it forecasts oil at $67 per barrel in 2027.Low oil prices have a direct impact on Alberta's revenue, as they are typically the second- or third-largest revenue source. Budget 2026 estimates that the provincial government will generate $9.7 billion from bitumen royalties in 2026, which is $3.1 billion less than Budget 2025, and the $7.5 less than 2024.Conversely, Alberta ran an $8.3 billion surplus in 2024, and the deficit was budgeted at only $5.2 billion in 2025.Nenshi disputes Smith's claims."They will saddle us with more and more and more debt," Nenshi said. "And this bad financial planning for the UCP is despite the fact that we have near record levels of royalty revenues. We're in a boom. Alberta, right now, is having the highest oil production in history. Our royalties are near records.""This government has done something no Alberta government has done before. They've wasted the boom during the boom.".Budget 2026 also projects that Alberta's population growth will decrease to 1.1% in 2026.However, Horner and Smith said that it will take more than just a couple of years to undo the damage done by years like 2024, where Alberta had a 4.7% population increase, which was combined with a decreased focus on economic immigrants.Nenshi, again, futed these claims, saying that the UCP have no one to blame but themselves."Your UCP government has spent so much money to deliver so little, and that's not because of immigrants," Nenshi said. "It's not because of population, and it's because of their choices."Pointing to issues such as buying Turkish Tylenol, resources spent on restructuring the health care system, and "hundreds of millions of dollars counted on secret payouts to foreign coal companies," Nenshi said the UCP waisted money."A government that values money doesn't waste taxpayers money," Nenshi said. "A government that values money can use these near record royalties to strengthen healthcare, support classrooms and lower costs for families, and the UCP chose not to.".Nenshi added that the funding that the UCP government have committed to building new schools and expanding health care facilities do nothing to solve the problems that Albertans are facing right now.Instead, she is using the budget and a referendum to distract Albertans from the issues that really matter.
