Politicians spent a few hours this week harrumphing about the impact falling oil prices might have on the provincial budget this year.
The problem for the provincial government is not whether they got the price of oil right in their budget. They’ve been underestimating for years. This year might be an over-estimate. In the short-term, they’ve still got lots of budget smoke and mirrors to cover off most of the likely outcomes. There’s no cause for panic, yet.
The problem for the provincial government is bigger than the current price of oil. Most of this will be familiar to regular readers, but at times like this it is worth pulling it all together in one spot so that people can see the big picture.