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per capita spending is now higher than Ontario, BC, Saskatchewan and Quebec
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So is per capita income. Also, a huge chunk of that is capital (14%) which creates long term assets and improves either quality of life, or makes our economy more efficient.
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it is increasing when it should be slowing
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This is not true for operational spending which has stayed steady with inflation plus population growth for the past few years, and if you think we can continue to grow in population without more roads, schools and hospitals I have a bridge to sell you.
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her government has done nothing in terms of healthcare reform and seem to think that throwing more money at a broken system will solve a structural problem.
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The Redford government is reforming primary care by accelerating the team based care that has started in primary care networks by moving towards family care clinics, where instead of doctors acting as gate keepers to care, patients will be directed to the proper care faster, whether specialists, nurse practitioners, nutritionists, pharmacists, or if you need it a doctor. With longer hours and more pathways to care they will hopefully divert people currently using emergency rooms for non-urgent care needs. This with continued investment in continuing care should free up beds in hospitals, and debottleneck the system.
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The province should be investing in key infrastructure in our two metropolises as well as post secondary education
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The province is. That country leading capital spending isn't enough shows you which way it shouldn't go.
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vast amounts of royalty revenue are instead directed towards wasteful program spending
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What is wasteful? Having top ranked in the OECD schools? Allowing our disabled to live in dignity? There are issues like in any large organization, but please add up what you think is wasteful, and show it. Show that it is real spending now, not a plan to spend over 20 or 30 years (like carbon capture, or the oil sands technology research authority (which hasn't even started yet)) that if diverted elsewhere today would move the bar very little.
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When they cannot balance a budget with $90 oil, you know there is a problem.
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Alberta last balanced the budget when natural gas prices and production were both much higher. The province is going through a structural shift which was predicted by organizations like the Canada West Foundation as early as 2005, with the oil sands being more central to the economy and the government. To encourage investment in the oil sands when oil was worth almost nothing in the mid 90s, the province back loaded royalties and partnered with the federal government to do the same with income taxes. Projects now reaching payout is why oil sands royalties have more than quadrupled in the past 5 years iirc. They will continue to grow even with stable oil prices because of how they are structured.
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the PC's essentially falsified their fiscal projections in the budget
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Budget forecasts were based on the same private sector basket of predictions as past budgets have been. TD Bank even issued a note that called the forecasts reasonable for both commodity prices and income. That it is hard to predict prices shouldn't surprise anyone. Heck, last fiscal year the budget swung from a $2 billion deficit, to a $3 billion one, to a mere ~$20 million.
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Alberta is losing it's low tax competitive advantage
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To whom?
If Alberta had any other provincial tax system, Albertans and Alberta businesses would pay at least $10.7 billion more in taxes each year.
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My point being that the Alberta PCs have governed much like a Liberal or NDP government would.
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Both the Liberals and NDP campaigned on raising income tax rates in the past provincial election, and either drastically increasing the carbon levy with no cut in other taxes, or introducing a hard cap and trade.
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