'GUSHERS OF MONEY': Nenshi hammers budget 2025, offers revenue ideas

Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi and colleagues took aim at Alberta's 2025 budget on Thursday afternoon following the budget speech in the Alberta Legislature.

The NDP criticized cuts to Legal Aid and family violence prevention programs, which they say undermine safety. They criticized a lack of a comprehensive plan to address job security, health care, education, and public safety — despite the government's stated priorities.

Specific issues for the NDP include a $2 per day tax cut overshadowed by increased living costs, and the absence of promised new schools. The NDP say the budget failed to address potential tariff impacts and high inflation. They said the province is inefficiently managing funds, while prioritizing "corruption" over essential services.

The Western Standard asked Nenshi about Alberta being a wealthy jurisdiction in terms of natural resources and why the province is running a deficit given its wealth.

What are his ideas for generating more revenue from oil and gas?

"One of the things we have is a royalty structure that I had a tiny little part in giving some advice on how we set it up, and a lot of our oil sands projects are now getting the payout period, which actually, believe it or not, means a gusher of money for the provincial government, and yet, they're not able to take this generational wealth — that won't be there forever — and figure it out to invest," said Nenshi.

"They're burning the furniture to heat in the house, spending the money that should be saved. And so ultimately, the premier can talk all she wants about we must double Alberta oil and gas production, but this budget actually forecasts a decline in conventional crude oil production in Alberta."

Nenshi added, "And so it's not enough to go around screaming about tariffs or yelling about the need to build new pipelines, which we need, but we actually have to ensure that we're working hard to develop global export markets. We're working hard to shrink the differential between WCS and WTI, which this budget is conservatively assuming massively will increase."

Nenshi said it's important to ensure the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion is operating at full capacity to export markets — not sending its oil to only California — "so that we can shrink that differential and make sure that the government can actually make some money."

"As for the rest of it, we need an economic development plan," he said.