Alberta Advantage

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The Alberta Advantage is a phrase coined by the government of the province of Alberta, Canada to describe Alberta's prosperous circumstance at the beginning of the 21st century. Alberta, a resource-rich province, has been particularly blessed with an abundance of energy resources. Although Alberta's stocks of traditional supplies such as sweet crude are in decline, Alberta has massive oil reserves contained in the Athabasca Oil Sands, the proven and currently economically extractable portion of which is only rivalled in size by Saudi Arabia. Because of the wealth generated by royalties collected on these resources, Alberta has been able to do a number of things no other Canadian province has been able to do.

Albertans have the lowest provincial headline income tax rate in Canada, although those earning less than $85,000/year would pay less income tax in BC and Ontario, and those earning less than $33,000/year would pay less income tax in PEI, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, BC and Ontario. However, Alberta is alone in Canada in not having a provincial sales tax. Alberta also has the highest levels of overall government services including health care. Alberta is the only province able to declare itself debt-free - it retired its debt in 2004, after privatising many province-owned companies. The state of Alberta's finances gained national attention when it has issued "prosperity cheques" to its citizens (2005). The preceding Premier, Ralph Klein discussed issuing a second round of cheques although the government did not do so prior to Klein leaving office in 2006. It remains to be seen how any future surpluses will be dealt with now that Ed Stelmach has assumed the premiership.

Alberta also boasts the most highly educated workforce in Canada ^[1], and the fastest-growing economy in Canada. In 2006, its unemployment rate sits at the lowest in Canada, at about 3% ^[2], well below the national average of close to 7%. Alberta's gross domestic product is over $200 billion, which equates to a GDP per capita that is not only the highest of any Canadian province, but is also higher than any U.S. state after exchange rates are considered.

Along with the wealth of resources comes a resource of natural beauty. Within Alberta's boundaries are two of the largest national parks in Canada: Banff National Park and Jasper National Park. Both offer unparallelled scenic and recreational opportunities for Alberta's residents. Alberta is also home to such world-class attractions as the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, which is home to an impressive range of dinosaur fossils and invertebrate fossils which date back to the Cambrian era.

Critics argue that the Alberta Advantage is not enjoyed by all Albertans. Alberta's current minimum wage, $7/hour, was only recently raised from $5.90/hour in September 2005. At the time Alberta had the lowest minimum wage in the country, even as of 2006 only New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador have lower general minimums. It is worth noting, however that the other provinces' minimum wages are not any more than $1/hour higher at the most, and that in any event the Albertan labour market is currently such that less than one percent of Albertan wage earners are paid the minimum wage.^[3] Many if not most of the few Albertans who are paid the minimum wage are tip earners, most of whom can, unlike their counterparts in the rest of the country, expect gratuities on par with those received in the U.S. Even in fast food restaurants, starting wages of over $10/hour are no longer uncommon.

The average hourly wage is now over $20/hour.^[4] Although the Alberta Federation of Labour claims wage increases are not keeping pace with inflation, ^[5] studies have shown that the gap between higher- and lower-paying jobs is narrowing.^[6] Finally, controversial provisions that allowed employers to pay lower wages to people under the age of 18 were abolished when Alberta raised its minimum wage. Such exceptions allow employers to pay certain employees wages equal to or less than $7/hour in British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia.^[7]

Education is funded at lower levels than they are in some other provinces^[8], and programs to address the plight of the very poor are alleged to be insufficient.^[9] While many Albertans enjoy the Alberta Advantage, critics counter that some do not. Teachers in Alberta are on average the highest paid in Canada.

One consequence of the Alberta Advantage is an influx of workers from other provinces seeking employment. Alberta's population is increasing at five times the national average,^[10] and housing costs are skyrocketing. Employers have complained of a labour shortage, and trained medical personnel have been alleged to be in particular demand. Although the government now provides more health care funding per capita than any other province^[11] and has managed to reduce wait times to second shortest in the country after Ontario^[12], critics claim that the health care system is strained.

In September 2006, Statistics Canada confirmed Alberta's current economic growth as the strongest such growth by any province in Canadian history, averaging 12.6% per year since 2002 compared to China's 14.8% average.^[13] Current projections are that barring some catastrophic event, the boom will last well into the next decade. Lower energy prices are not believed to be as likely as they were in the latter decades of the 20th century (mainly due to China's growth) and even if prices were to drop significantly the impact of such an event is not expected to be as severe for Alberta - its economy is more diversified now than it was in the 20th century and the energy sector is now dominated by oilsands operations which are much more capital-intensive, and owned by companies that are much more sophisticated and better financed than their predecessors.