BR ALTAbudget – CP

Source: The Canadian Press – Broadcast wire
Oct 29, 2015

EDMONTON – Alberta will continue to be the only province with no sales tax under the watch of N-D-P Premier Rachel Notley.

Notley was facing the question this week when she brought in a budget that forecasts a six-billion-dollar deficit and expects the province to run up 47-billion-dollars in debt by 2020.

But Notley says there will be no P-S-T, noting the budget plans to use low interest rates and a downturn in the economy to ramp up construction and the fixing of roads, schools and hospitals.

It projects 34-billion-dollars in capital spending over the next five years while not drastically reducing staffing levels in key areas like health and education.

Wildrose Leader Brian Jean says the borrowing could trigger a cut in the province’s valued triple-A credit rating.

He says that would trigger higher interest rates and even more debilitating red ink.

But at least one credit rating agency is saying that’s not the case.

Sherry Cooper, chief economist with Dominion Lending Centres, says the province’s credit rating is not going to be downgraded due to the budget.

(The Canadian Press, CHQR)

(The Canadian Press)

INDEX: NATIONAL POLITICS