NEWS: Rosier financial picture expected as Alberta delivers second-quarter budget update

Alberta Minister of Finance and President of the Treasury Board, Travis Toews delivers the 2021 budget in Edmonton Alta, on Thursday February 25, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

EDMONTON — Alberta’s finance minister is expected to deliver some good news on the province’s budget today when he releases the second-quarter update.

Travis Toews says the economic outlook is improving across the board and not just in Alberta’s mainstay oil and gas sector.

A surge in oil and gas prices has helped Alberta’s bottom line since Toews predicted an $18-billion deficit when he introduced the budget back in February.

That deficit projection has since been halved to less than $8 billion.

Opposition NDP finance critic Shannon Phillips says the higher energy prices will help.

But Phillips says Toews still needs to present a plan to help families dealing with the double whammy of a 4.7 per cent rise in inflation on top of higher user fees, bills and insurances rates imposed under Premier Jason Kenney’s United Conservatives.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 30, 2021.

The Canadian Press

News from © The Canadian Press, 2021. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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