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Alberta has its fiscal woes, but our local troubles are puny compared to the burden Ontario taxpayers will lug around for generations.

Premier Rachel Notley, beating back charges of fiscal sloppiness, regularly says Alberta is much better off than all other provinces.

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In these days of rising debt, “much better off” really means “not as bad.”

But Alberta’s picture does show serious competitive advantages over other provinces, including Ontario.

On Wednesday, the Ontario Liberals brought down a budget much like the one the Notley government produced last week. There’s a lot of spending coupled with rising debt.

Premier Kathleen Wynne is heading for an election June 7. Challenged by new PC Leader Doug Ford, the Liberals have turned away from balanced budgets to a multi-year period of deficits. Wynne will have cash to placate interest groups during the campaign.

Notley is currently on a post-budget tour to announce new schools, safe housing for women in crisis and even backstage upgrades to the Jubilee auditoriums in Calgary and Edmonton (the latter are crucial, by the way, if those theatres are to keep drawing big productions).