The Provincial budget forecasts a $20.2-billion deficit.

Finance Minister Travis Toews says the government wants to keep the Province's net debt to GDP ratio below 30 percent, or about the national-provincial average pre-COVID.

"If we can stay below 30 percent we will ensure a reasonable strong balance sheet which will position us for fiscal recovery in the future," he says.

Toews says an Alberta Jobs Now program along with the federal government will be rolled out soon but would not provide further details.

He says the government is focused on three priorities.

"Number one, we're ensuring that we're resourcing our health care response adequately to meet the pandemic challenge, number two we're positioning the economy for growth and a rebound and number three we're constantly working to ensure we're delivering government services most efficiently," Toews says.

Toews says they're expecting a modest increase in revenue and unlike previous years they'll keep oil revenue expectations low.

"Our revenue expectations are very conservative this year, we're projecting $46 for WTI (West Texas Intermediate) and the reality is there's an awful lot of uncertainty yet and in an environment such as this I believe it's important to be prudent and to be conservative in the projections," he says. "Listen I would love to be surprised with much higher energy prices than what we're predicting but I think the prudent, responsible approach is to be conservative."

The government is also providing $5 million over the next four years for a total of $20 million for vaccine development at the University of Alberta.

 

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