Ted Morton is the man with the plan.
At least, according to the now-Minister of Finance and Enterprise’s 2006 leadership campaign.
Just two days after Morton tabled one of his plans in the form of the 2010 budget, the minister was on hand at an Edmonton Chamber of Commerce luncheon to address the budget and how it will affect Albertans.
“Optimism, but also caution,” Morton said. “Certainly given the fact that there are still potential clouds to come on the horizon, the need for fiscal prudence is still there.”
Based on projected revenues of $34 billion for the coming year and expenses of $38.7 billion, the government is predicting a deficit of $4.7 billion.
“That’s the bad news,” Morton said. “The good news is we see the deficit reducing to $1.1 billion after the first year and by the third year, as the premier said, we’ll be back in black by 2012 with a budget surplus of half a billion dollars.”
