Article content continued

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or

Just a few years after former premier Ralph Klein declared the province debt free, government spending over the past decade has ballooned by 42 per cent under successive Progressive Conservative and NDP governments, climbing to $57 billion last year.

Revenues haven’t kept pace, increasing 26 per cent to $49.6 billion in the last budget year.

Albertans can see the result: one small surplus, nine deficits, even with oil prices soaring as high as US$112 a barrel in 2011, or plunging below $28 in 2016.

The new panel will have its hands full.

But it’s a diverse, experienced group, led by a former Saskatchewan NDP finance minister, Janice MacKinnon, who helped that province balance its books in the mid-1990s.

Former Alberta Liberal MLA Mike Percy, who worked briefly as chief of staff to premier Jim Prentice, will serve as the vice-chair.

The committee includes other accomplished members, including former ATB chief executive Dave Mowat, U of C economist Bev Dahlby and former Alberta deputy finance and health minister Jay Ramotar.

Photo by Ian Kucerak / Postmedia

“I am impressed,” said economist Ron Kneebone, with the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy. “There is not a hint of stacking it with partisan membership.”

Speed will be of the essence, as the group’s report is due Aug. 15 and the UCP government will release its first budget in the fall.

The panel will examine Alberta’s fiscal outlook for the next four years and assess government spending trends. It will provide advice on balancing the books and develop alternatives for the province to consider.