Alberta's Economic and Fiscal Future

Alberta has a long history of facing serious challenges to its economy, including shocks in the form of resource price instability, market access constraints, and federal energy and regulatory policies. However, the recent and current challenges seem more threatening. It appears that this time is truly different.


The collapse of oil and gas prices in 2014 combined with the rapid growth of U.S. oil production, difficulties in obtaining approval for infrastructure to reach new markets and uncertainty regarding the impacts of climate change policies world-wide have proven to be strong headwinds for the province’s key energy sector. Together, the negative effects on employment, incomes and provincial government revenues have been substantial. To make matters worse, in early 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic struck a major blow to the lives and health of segments of the population and to the economy. The result has been further employment and income losses, more reductions in government revenues and huge increases in government expenditures and debt. These events, combined with lagging productivity, rapid technological shifts, significant climate policy impacts and demographic trends, call for great wisdom, innovation, collective action and leadership to put the province on the path of sustainable prosperity.


It is in this context that we commissioned a series of papers from authors covering a broad range of expertise, experience and community leadership to discuss Alberta’s economic and fiscal future. The authors were given wide latitude but in general we asked them for their assessment of the short and longer term challenges and opportunities for recovery to sustainable prosperity. These papers were released as pre-publications as part of the School’s Alberta Futures project and are now bundled as chapters in this ebook. While the list of important issues goes well beyond the topics covered here, our hope is that the thoughtful evaluations presented will assist in motivating important public discussions on Alberta’s economic and fiscal future.