Not all NDP governments are the same.
A right wing think tank suggests in its first two years of power, the Alberta NDP government looks like Bob Rae’s first two years in office in Ontario back in the 1990s, which is in stark contrast from what NDP Premier Roy Romanow did in Saskatchewan.
Rae went on a spending spree, while Romanow cut spending.
Steve Lafleur with the Fraser Institute said Premier Rachel Notley has put Alberta on a very difficult economic path.
“The government decided to increase spending by 11.2 per cent in the first two years of office. As much as no one wants to make the tough choices the reality is Alberta is in a tough spot right now, and it is only going to get worse. Things can escalate really quickly right now because we are looking at running $10-billion as a normal course of business deficit. You can’t do that forever without severe repercussions,” Lafleur said.
Lafleur said Ontario is still climbing out of a massive debt that was racked up 25 years ago under Bob Rae.
Notley is being urged to adopt the more fiscal savvy approach of Romanow, who managed to balance the books despite taking over a $14-billion debt load when he became premier in 1991.
