Alberta's NDP government to take one year longer to balance books
Joe Ceci says deficit will not hit the $6.5B estimate projected earlier
Alberta's deficit will be lower than the $6.5 billion projected last month, but it will take the NDP government one year longer to balance the province's books.
Finance Minister Joe Ceci said Wednesday that the low price of oil is forcing the government to postpone the NDP's election promise to balance the budget by 2018.
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"Like Albertans, the government's treasury is facing significant pressures," he said.
Ceci said the 2015 budget, set to be released Tuesday, will have a plan to diversify the economy and to build infrastructure. He said the province will continue to invest in health care, human services and education.
However, the government will take a closer look at labour and program expenses.
"You'll see us signalling that there will be priorities placed on some programs and not others," he said. "But that's work that we have to continue to do for Budget 2016."
The Wildrose jumped on Ceci's admission, saying that delaying a balanced budget to 2019/2020 suggests the NDP is incapable of bringing the books back into the black.
"This is the NDP breaking their single most important campaign promise of balancing the budget before the end of their mandate," Wildrose Leader Brian Jean said in a written statement.
"Thousands of Albertans are taking a hard look at their spending during the economic downturn, and the NDP need to do the same. We have doubts that the NDP is serious about balancing the budget."
When Ceci released the first-quarter update at the end of August, he said the deficit could be as high as $6.5 billion.
On Wednesday, he said he expects the deficit will be lower than that.