The architect of this year’s provincial budget says Alberta’s current financial woes show it’s time for Albertans to talk taxes.

Former Tory finance minister Ron Liepert, who retired in April, said Thursday he hopes the Progressive Conservative government will have the courage to consider its revenue options in the face of a mounting budget crisis.

“We need to have a discussion about how we pay for services on an ongoing basis. I’m not going to suggest one method is better than the other, but I just don’t understand why there’s this reluctance to have this discussion,” said Liepert.

“I remember Premier (Ed) Stelmach and now with Premier (Alison) Redford, you box yourself in by saying, ‘This is off the table, that’s off the table.’ And then when the sh— hits the fan, you don’t have many options left. I just think Albertans are prepared to have that discussion.”

The comments came a day after Doug Horner, who succeeded Liepert, warned the province faced a grim financial picture because the steep discount for Alberta heavy oil compared to North American world prices is hammering the provincial treasury.

While everything is on the table for program cuts, both Horner and Redford have ruled tax hikes or new levies out of consideration.

Liepert, who was given the finance post by Redford in the fall of 2011, drew fire while in office for musing about implementing a provincial sales tax or a reintroduced health-care premium.

In the February throne speech before the spring election, the government promised a sweeping review of spending, savings and taxation that would produce “foundational change.” But with the election looming, any talk of taxes was dropped and Redford promised no new taxes this term or increases to existing levies.

On Thursday, Redford stuck to her no-tax pledge, saying Albertans were against it when her government floated the idea.

“We’re experiencing difficult fiscal times just at the moment, but I think the framework we have in place allows us to manage with where we are — and so we will just proceed on that basis,” she said in an interview.

Liepert’s February budget projected an $886-million deficit this year.

But a glut of American oil and a lack of pipeline capacity out of Alberta have widened the price differential close to $40-a-barrel this month and helped push the projected deficit up to $3 billion. The situation is expected to continue for some time and Horner suggested the government may not even be able to balance its operating budget in 2013-14, breaking an election promise.

“I think the province is in deep trouble financially,” said economist Jack Mintz, the University of Calgary fiscal and tax policy expert.

Mintz, who chaired a government-appointed panel on finances in 2007, said the province has a high rate of spending and low rates of taxation, including its 10-per-cent flat tax on income. That makes it difficult to balance the budget on expenditure cuts alone, he said.

Mintz, chair of the U of C’s School of Public Policy, has long favoured a harmonized sales tax for the province. But the government could also look at non-tax measures such as introducing toll roads on new highways.