Alberta racked up a $10.8-billion deficit in the 2016-17 financial year and is now $33.3 billion in debt, according to government figures released Thursday.

While the government plans to get back to black little by little, balancing the budget by 2023, Finance Minister Joe Ceci’s plan for how it will do that tends toward broad strokes, not specific steps.

It’s about incrementally smaller deficits each year, Ceci said Thursday, keeping spending increases below population growth plus inflation, diversifying the economy and keeping Albertans working.

Government promised more jobs in Budget 2016 through infrastructure investment, but capital spending ended up $1.9 billion lower than planned.

Private and municipal delays, weather and the pace of meeting federal eligibility criteria each contributed to slowing projects, but Ceci said Thursday all money earmarked for capital investments will be spent — and jobs will come along with it.

The Fort McMurray blaze didn’t help matters either, Ceci said, distracting from capital investments and hitting Alberta’s bottom line hard.

There was some good news — a $1-billion increase in revenues, thanks to an unexpected spike in investment income and improved resource revenues — but that was tempered by looming payouts for the coal phase-out and incorporating Balancing Pool debt onto the province’s books.

By March, the economy had seen a 7.7 per cent increase in economic activity since May and 44,000 new jobs since July, but that growth came from a dizzying low point.

The economy bottomed out last summer, contracting by seven per cent over 2015 and 2016, shedding tens of thousands of jobs and seeing marked decreases in business and investment.

Wildrose Leader Brian Jean labelled the report “without question, one of the worst financial fiscal years in Alberta’s history.”

The province has the right conditions for recovery, he said, but accused the NDP of executing ideological programs that harm business and investment, stymying economic revival.

By the numbers

$33.3 billion

Provincial debt, when you count what it has borrowed for fiscal and capital spending. The figure grows to $49.6 billion when you factor in cash borrowed on behalf of municipalities so they can get a better interest rate. More than $1 billion was spent last year on debt-servicing costs.

$42.4 billion

Provincial revenues. While more than budgeted, it would have been $2 billion higher had the province not incorporated the Balancing Pool into government reporting.

$53.2 billion

Provincial expenses. That was $4.1 billion more than Alberta spent in 2015-16, and $1.9 billion higher than budgeted. More than $1 billion resulted from a change in accounting standards at the behest of the auditor general, which saw coal phase-out transition payments included in expenses.

$250 million

The cash Albertans paid in carbon tax. Around $152 million of that went back to taxpayers in the form of rebates, $40 million covered cutting the small business tax and $7 million went to green programs.





egraney@postmedia.com