XPost: can.politics, ab.politics, edm.general   
   From: Panca@nyet.ca   
      
   Calgary Herald - November 17, 2014   
      
      
   Oil prices a dark cloud over new Alberta legislature session   
      
      
   BANFF — Slumping oil prices have the Tory government looking for new sources   
   of   
   cash — including possible toll roads — as it heads into a new session of   
   the   
   legislature Monday.   
      
   At an upbeat Progressive Conservative annual general meeting this weekend,   
   Premier Jim Prentice struck a rare sombre note as he warned that oil prices   
   that have slid under $75 U.S. a barrel mean that “this is not business as   
   usual.”   
      
   “We need to steel ourselves. We will face this challenge together,”   
   Prentice   
   said in a Saturday address.   
      
   The spring provincial budget banked on oil at $95.22 U.S. a barrel. Each $1   
   difference in the price of a barrel over a 12-month-period costs the province   
   over $200 million, though the decline is partially blunted by a lower Canadian   
   dollar and a relatively narrow price differential for heavy Alberta crude.   
      
   Prentice told reporters that the “Alberta government is in good shape”   
   because   
   of high oil prices earlier in the budget year.  The books will be balanced this   
   year and the province intends to have a balanced budget in 2015, he said.   
      
   However, “if we are in a low-price environment for an extended period of   
   time …   
   there will be consequences, clearly,” said Prentice.   
      
   The premier would not talk about potential cuts and said he “wouldn’t get   
   into”   
   whether the government is considering new revenue streams.   
      
   However, Finance Minister Robin Campbell acknowledged that officials are   
   looking at ways to increase revenue, though he added that does not necessarily   
   mean taxes.   
      
   One potential new source of revenue could be a levy for users of new roads.   
      
   Delegates to the PC meeting passed a resolution Saturday calling for the   
   government to develop a toll road system to finance new major highways.   
      
   Transportation Minister Wayne Drysdale said the idea was already being   
   considered by the government.   
      
   He said toll roads had been under discussion by the PC caucus since before the   
   drop in oil prices but the decline means “it’s probably more important   
   now.”   
      
     “We’ve got to look at different ways of doing business and paying for   
   some of   
   our infrastructure,” he said.   
      
   “User-pay, rather than taxing everybody.”   
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   Drysdale cautioned that while his department is studying the idea, the   
   government is still a long way from a decision and it would have to go through   
   numerous hurdles before it was implemented.   
      
   “I’m not saying I’ve got a road picked out that tomorrow I’m going to   
   put a   
   toll on,” he said.   
      
   Liberal finance critic Kent Hehr said Sunday that tolls are a reasonable way to   
   pay for new roads but would meet only a small portion of Alberta’s financial   
   needs.   
      
   The Calgary-Buffalo MLA said that while the government appears to be hinting at   
   budget cuts, the province already comes up short in areas such teachers,   
   post-secondary spaces and long-term care.   
      
   “Our fiscal structure is broken. We don’t have the ability to fund   
   day-to-day   
   operations without really high oil prices,” said Hehr, whose party advocates   
   a   
   progressive income tax system.   
      
   Prentice has said previously he would not introduce a provincial sales tax,   
   alter the flat tax on personal income or raise energy royalties.   
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   Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith said fiscal policy will dominate the fall   
   legislative sitting as a result of the collapse of oil prices.   
      
   She said the premier will find it difficult to keep all the promises made in   
   his campaigns for the Tory leadership and in four October byelections — such   
   as   
   a pledge to build dozens of new schools — as a result of the revenue drop.   
      
   “Probably there will be a lot of questions about our fiscal situation,” she   
   said. “It does feel to us a little like Groundhog Day … It’s going to   
   have a   
   huge impact on the promises the current premier has made and it is going to   
   have a huge impact on the budget they are going to put forward in the spring   
   session.”   
      
   Smith, whose party held its own annual general meeting in Red Deer on the   
   weekend, used part of her keynote address Friday to torch the Tories over   
   fiscal mismanagement.   
      
   Prentice has continued the PC policy of borrowing to pay for public   
   infrastructure, with Smith noting the province is slated to rack up $20 billion   
   in debt by 2016.   
      
   But PC MLAs said on the weekend they aren’t panicking over the oil price   
   slump.   
      
   “It’s not the elephant in the room. We’re not afraid to talk about it and   
   there’s going to be some changes,” said Edmonton MLA Steve Young.   
      
   Agriculture Minister Verlyn Olson acknowledged that while Prentice says the   
   situation is not business as usual, what that actually means remains to be   
   seen.   
      
   “Ignoring it doesn’t make it go away. It is a reality we have to live   
   with,” he   
   said.   
      
   “But I don’t want to prejudge what that’s going to mean for any   
   program.”   
      
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