Klein announces Alberta has erased its $23-billion debt
CALGARY (CP) - Alberta is officially red-ink free, Premier Ralph Klein announced Monday, making it the only debt-free province in Canada.
"I've been dreaming about this day for quite some time now," Klein, dressed in a tan cowboy hat, denim shirt and blue jeans, said at a news conference outside his southern Alberta office, the McDougall Centre. "Today I'm very, very proud to announce that Alberta has slain its debt," said Klein with members of his cabinet and caucus standing behind him.
Alberta's debt hovered at $23 billion just a decade ago - almost all of it racked up between 1982 and 1992 when oil prices crashed.
Klein said the debt has been "paid off to the last cent."
"Paying of the debt is an amazing achievement," he added. "There is no other jurisdiction in this country that can say it's debt-free."
The last time a province declared itself debt-free was in the late 1960s in British Columbia.
Klein also promised the red ink would not return.
"Never again will this government or the people of this province have to set aside another tax dollar on debt," he said.
"Those days are over and they're over for good as far as my government is concerned and if need be we will put in place legislation to make sure that we never have a debt again."
He praised Albertans' role in the paydown.
"The reason this achievement is possible is that there is something else that sets Albertans apart and that is the ability to face problems head on and pioneer new ways to respond to them.
"It's the determination to commit to a course of action and see it through to the end."
He said his government will consult with Albertans in the fall on how to spend future surpluses.
His news conference was interrupted at one point by protester Donna McPhe, who shouted "Dictator!" and accused him of balancing the books on the backs of the poor.
McPhe later told reporters: "We're supposed to look at the premier with his cowboy hat on and think he's an emperor. Well the emperor has no clothes to me."
Earlier Monday outside the McDougall Centre, Klein hosted his annual Calgary Stampede pancake breakfast.
The premier was hit in the face with a pie from a protester at last year's breakfast. This year there were no incidents as security around the premier was sizable and conspicuous.
Alberta's oil and gas prices, which put the province in the hole, were what pulled it out. Soaring prices for the resources have led to billion- dollar budget surpluses since the mid-1990s.
The surpluses have also been buoyed by a higher take of taxes, lottery revenues and health-care premiums to go with spending cuts in various departments.
The province announced last month it had a $4 billion surplus in the 2003- 2004 budget year.
Klein, who is expected to call an election as early as this fall, has mused aloud previously that paying off the debt by Alberta's centennial year of 2005 would be a nice legacy.
Finance Minister Pat Nelson said there may be some penalties for paying out the debt early, but that will be detailed when the government releases its first-quarter results in August.
"It's cleared, it's over with and we can go home to our kids and our grandkids and say, 'We have protected your future so you will not be carrying the burdens of the past,' " said Nelson.
But even before Monday's announcement, Alberta's opposition parties have criticized the Tory government's approach to spending and saving.
Liberal Leader Kevin Taft said there's no point to having a surplus when Albertans walk into crowded hospitals and classrooms and drive on crumbling roads.
New Democrat Brian Mason said the Klein government doesn't deserve credit for the windfall because oil and gas price increases guaranteed the surpluses regardless of how the Tories steered the economy.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has said the surpluses show Albertans are grossly overtaxed and that rather than reward taxpayers, Klein has chosen to instead give double-digit pay increases to public sector workers.
The debt elimination is the latest example of Alberta's robust economy.
The government noted that in 2003-04 Alberta continued to have the highest personal disposable income per capita of any province.
It also led Canada in overall population growth and with 47,900 jobs created, it had the highest rate of job growth in the country.
© The Canadian Press, 2004
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