Jeff McIntosh/CP Janice MacKinnon, chair of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Alberta’s Finances, looks on as Travis Toews, Minister of Finance, speaks to the media about the MacKinnon Panel report on Alberta’s Finances.

CALGARY — A panel looking into Alberta’s finances says the province habitually overspends on its services and needs to get tough on schools, have university students pay more and force doctors to charge less.

The panel, chaired by former Saskatchewan finance minister Janice MacKinnon, says in a report that Alberta’s annual expenditures would be $10.4 billion less if the province were to spend the same per person as do British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec.

It says that if Alberta matched the other provinces, it would have a $3.7-billion surplus this year instead of a $6.7-billion deficit.

Alberta’s spending per capita is the highest in Canada, the report adds. And its debt is on track to reach $100 billion in four years.

To balance the budget by 2022-23, as the United Conservative government has promised, the panel suggests there be no increases in government spending for four years and a reduction in operating costs by at least $600 million, as well as cuts in capital spending.

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