[First Lady]

I would love to jump in on this debate; but I am lacking the free banter time right now.

I will throw in an article, it is a good read.

http://www.taxpayer.com/taxpayer/new...e?news_id=3429

Excerpt:

Our now premier, Ed Stelmach, in answering a question in regards to Alberta’s hidden sales tax on insurance offered this as part of his response: “The only absolute for me is to run balanced budgets and budget conservatively.”

What a difference a couple of years make.

Heck, what a difference six months make. Mid-summer when the province was rolling in an $8.5-billion surplus, and doling it out in billion dollar increments, few Albertans could even imagine that the province may consider running a deficit or dip into savings to cover any shortfall in 2009.

But that’s exactly what is happening.

Unfortunately, many Albertans, including some of those who sit around the provincial cabinet table will be quick to suggest that the unprecedented drop in the price of oil from $145 to $45 in a matter of a few months, precipitated this ‘need’ to withdraw from savings.

Talk about stretching the truth.

While $45 oil may seem low in comparison to this past summer, it is not all that low considering the price of oil over the past five years.

The Alberta government’s rapid and massive increase in spending over the past few years is the real cause of this situation. In fact, the CTF predicted in 2007 that the government’s appetite for spending would out-strip its supply of cash within two to five years, even if oil prices stayed high. Here we are two years later, and the CTF has been proven right.

So, just how severe is the government’s addiction to spending? Well, in 2008-09 the Alberta government will spend a national high, $10,513 per Albertan on government programs. In comparison, the three other western provinces will spend slightly over $8,000 per citizen.