Article content

Finance Minister Joe Ceci had a scrap of good news Monday. While he was outlining Alberta’s fiscal fiasco, West Texas Intermediate oil was taking a trampoline bounce, rising more than eight per cent to $49.20 US per barrel.

Oil has jumped $10 a barrel in just three days. By the time you read this, the price may be down again, or up. Forecasting these revenue numbers is like throwing darts at mosquitoes.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Braid: As Alberta spending tops $50 billion, Ceci ready for more tax hikes Back to video

But even a longer-term price rise wouldn’t fundamentally change Alberta’s basic fiscal picture for many months, or years.

The latest figures show that the province will spend more than $50 billion in 2015-16, the result of the NDP reversing both cuts and revenue increases planned by ex-premier Jim Prentice last spring.

Rather casually, the NDP will shatter the $40-billion spending threshold, first definitively crossed during the Stelmach-Redford handoff only three years ago.

The $50-billion total seems even more startling when you recall that two decades ago, Alberta was spending only $15 billion annually. In 2005 the total was less than $30 billion. Spending seems to nearly double every decade.