Tag: Alberta Budget 2026

In Session: Jeromy Farkas pushes back against Danielle Smith’s provincial property tax hikes — compares it to equalization

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date March 9, 2026

Premier Danielle Smith and Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas in December 2025 (source: Danielle Smith / Facebook)

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The Daveberta Podcast is back In Session

You’ve probably noticed I haven’t recorded an episode of the Daveberta Podcast in a while — so if you were missing listening to it, please know that I was missing recording it.

Starting today and over the next few weeks I’m going to record a series of short episodes in which I will share a few key things that I’m watching in Alberta politics in the week ahead and some other things that have caught my attention.

I decided to test this podcast series — which I’m calling Daveberta In Session — during the spring session of the Alberta Legislature. I’m planning to do this for eight or nine weeks until mid May when the Assembly breaks for the summer months — and then we’ll see where we go from there.

In this week’s episode, I discuss:

Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas’ threat to hold a municipal referendum on provincial property tax increases that he compared to equalization.
NDP MLA Heather Sweet’s private members’ bill to improve whistleblower laws for health care workers.
the storm of misinformation and disinformation that is barrelling towards us as Albertans are faced with ten or eleven referendum questions on October 19, 2026.

Listen to this episode of the podcast on the Daveberta Substack.

Alberta Politics

NDP MLAs Sarah Hoffman and Samir Kayande first candidates nominated for 2027 election

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date March 6, 2026

MLA Sarah Hoffman (left) and MLA David Eggen at the Edmonton-Glenora NDP nomination meeting on March 3, 2026. Hoffman was acclaimed for the nomination. (source: Sarah Hoffman / Facebook)

Candidate nomination season kicks off in Alberta

It could be 18 months before Albertans line up to mark their ballots in the next provincial election but that isn’t stopping Alberta’s main opposition party from starting to nominate candidates ahead of the vote.

The Alberta NDP started nominating candidates this week, far ahead of the scheduled October 2027 vote. A much earlier election was rumoured but appears increasingly unlikely as we move further into 2026.

NDP MLA Sarah Hoffman became the first candidate nominated ahead of the next election when she was acclaimed in Edmonton-Glenora on March 3. Hoffman has represented the riding since 2015 and served as Deputy Premier and Minister of Health in the NDP government led by Premier Rachel Notley from 2015 to 2019.

Tags A Better Calgary Party, Alberta Budget 2026, Alberta Election Candidate Nominations, Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission, Alberta Federation of Labour, Alberta NDP, Alberta Politics Substack, Anthony Ascue, Avi Lewis, Banff-Kananaskis, Calgary-Confederation, Calgary-Edgemont, Calgary-Elbow, Calgary-Foothills, Calgary-Shaw, Calgary-Shaw by-election, Calgary-Varsity, Canada Election Substack, Canadian Strategy Group, Corey Hogan, Court Ellingson, Craig Chandler, Dan Arnold, Danielle Smith, Daveberta Substack, Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview, Edmonton-Glenora, Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood, Edmonton-South, Edmonton-South West, Elan Harper, Federal NDP leadership race 2026, Gil McGowan, Green Party of Alberta, Heather McPherson, James Anderson, Janis Irwin, Jason Copping, Jeremy Nixon, Jeromy Farkas, Julia Hayter, Justin Brattinga, Kelly Hooper, Lizette Tejada, Mike Derry, Naheed Nenshi, Nate Horner, Nathan Ip, Peggy Wright, Rebecca Schulz, Rhiannon Hoyle, Rob Ashton, Samir Kayande, Sarah Elmeligi, Sarah Hoffman, Tanille Johnston, Tony McQuail, United Conservative Party

Alberta Politics

Nate Horner’s big deficit budget — another year, another Alberta budget at the whim of oil and gas royalties

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date February 27, 2026

Alberta Minister of Finance Nate Horner in his pre-budget promotional video (source: Government of Alberta / YouTube)

There’s a baked-in analysis in every Alberta provincial budget that is impossible to ignore: Alberta relies too much on revenues from oil and gas royalties to fund the daily operations of government.

The other baked-in part of the analysis is what Albertans want: well-funded public services without having to pay more taxes for them.

From a first glance, it sure looks like that’s what Albertans got in Minister of Finance Nate Horner’s budget tabled today in the Legislature.

The budget doesn’t appear to include any big spending cuts, but it does include something Conservatives in this province used to like saying they wouldn’t do: run a deficit. This budget runs a big deficit of $9.4 billion and projects deficits for the next two budgets.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

Tags Alberta Anti-Immigration Referendum, Alberta Budget 2026, Alberta NDP, Alberta Politics Substack, Alberta School Board Association, Alberta Teachers' Association, Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, Canada Election Substack, Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Chris Gallaway, Coal Mining Referendum, Corb Lund, Court Ellingson, Dale McFee, Danielle Smith, Darren Hedley, Daveberta Substack, Deborah Yedlin, Deficit in Alberta, Edmonton Police Service, Enyinnah Okere, Friends of Medicare, Jan Gorski, Jason Schilling, Jeromy Farkas, Jim Prentice, Justin Krikler, Justin Trudeau, Katherine White, Kris Sims, Montreal Economic Institute, Naheed Nenshi, Nate Horner, Natural Resource Royalty Rates, No New Coal Mining in the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains, Paul de Jong, Pembina Institute, Pierre Poilievre, Progressive Contractors Association, Rachel Notley, Raj Uppal, Rakhi Pancholi, Ron Anderson, Sandra Azocar, Shali Baziuk, Taylor MacPherson, United Conservative Party, United Nurses of Alberta

Alberta Politics

Lower international price of oil will hit Alberta’s 2026 budget hard

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date January 25, 2026

Oil production in our province is at a record high but, as Albertans have learned time and time again, we have absolutely no control over the international price of oil that makes or breaks our local economy.

Forecasts for oil prices are not encouraging for 2026. The U.S. Energy Information Administration has projected that the price of West Texas Intermediate oil could average around $50 to $52 per barrel and, with a glut of oil on the international market, Goldman Sachs expects WTI to average $53 per barrel in 2026.

This is trouble for the Government of Alberta, which relies heavily on revenues from oil and gas royalties to fund the daily operations of public services like heath care and education. The Alberta government’s 2025 budget projected WTI at $68 per barrel but as of the second quarter update in November the average price was $61.50 per barrel. Each $1 change in the price of WTI has an estimated $750-million impact on provincial government revenue.