Media Advisory - The School of Public Policy to Host Major Roundtable on "How Alberta Budgets" - Releases Report on Need for Heritage Savings Fund Re-Vamp

EDMONTON, Oct. 24, 2014 /CNW/ - The 2014 provincial budget presented the first balanced budget in Alberta in six years. Or did it?

Changes to the nature of the Alberta government's budgeting system means that Albertans, commentators and even economists have a tough time figuring out Alberta's real financial position.  Moreover, with a $21 billion debt forecast by 2017, Albertans are justly concerned about Alberta's overall financial positon. A position weakened by the inability of successive governments to save resource revenue.

The School of Public Policy invites media to join Prof. Jack Mintz at a groundbreaking Provincial Budgeting Roundtable in Edmonton on October 28, where a blue-ribbon panel of policy experts from around the world will discuss these questions and present policy solutions. The event will feature the release of an unprecedented and detailed report advocating the need for a strategic plan for Alberta's Heritage Savings Trust Fund, and an overall commitment to provincial savings. The program also features a keynote address by former Finance Minister Jim Dinning. 

What:	Roundtable on Provincial Budgeting (all sessions open to media)
When:	Tuesday, October 28, 2014 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Press conference for paper release – 10 a.m.
Where:	Wedgwood Room The Fairmont Hotel Macdonald 10065 100 Street NW, Edmonton, Alberta

AGENDA

7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.	Registration & Continental Breakfast
8:30 a.m. – 8:45 a.m.	Welcome
	Jack Mintz, Director and Palmer Chair in Public Policy, The School of Public Policy
8:45 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.	The Structure and Presentation of Provincial Budgets
	Should the provincial budgets be divided into operational, capital, and savings components? What should be included in each component? How are they interrelated? How should the provincial deficit be calculated? Should deficit spending be restricted by legislation? What other data on the provincial governments' finances should be presented in the budget? What time horizon should the budget cover?
	CHAIR: Jean-Sébastien Rioux, Associate Director, International Policy, The School of Public Policy Paul Boothe, Director, Lawrence National Centre for Policy and Management, Ivey Business School,  Western University Bev Dahlby, Distinguished Fellow, The School of Public Policy Michael Smart, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Toronto
9:45 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.	Should the Province Establish an Independent Budget Office?
	A panel discussion of the pros and cons of establishing an independent office, reporting on a regular basis to the legislature and the people of Alberta on the state of the provincial government's finances.
	CHAIR: Ian Brodie, Research Director, The School of Public Policy Tom Flanagan, Distinguished Fellow, The School of Public Policy Ted Morton, Senior Fellow, Manning Foundation, and Executive in Residence, The School of Public Policy Al O'Brien, Fellow, Institute for Public Economics, University of Alberta
10:45 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.	Break
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.	Managing and Harnessing Alberta's Resource Revenues
	How should resource revenue savings rules be incorporated into the budget? What role should the Alberta Heritage Savings Fund and the Contingency Account play in promoting intergenerational savings of resource revenues and stabilization of provincial revenues? How large should these funds be?
	CHAIR: Robert Skinner, Executive Fellow, The School of Public Policy Jack Mintz, Director and Palmer Chair in Public Policy, The School of Public Policy Rick van der Ploeg, Professor of Economics, Research Director, Oxford Centre for the Analysis of Resource Rich Economies (OxCarre)
12:00 p.m. – 1:15 p.m.	Lunch
	Keynote Address
	Jim Dinning, Chair of the Board, Western Financial Group
1:15 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.	Overview of Provincial Government Finances in Canada
	An overview of provincial government finances with a focus on how reliance on non-renewable revenues has created challenges for budgeting.
	CHAIR: Stephen Richardson, Executive Fellow, The School of Public Policy Ergete Ferede, Associate Professor, Economics, MacEwan University Ron Kneebone, Area Director, Economic and Social Policy, The School of Public Policy
2:15 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.	Performance Measurement and Performance Based Budgeting
	Performance based budgeting has been widely adopted by governments. Alberta has almost two decades of experience with performance measurement and budgeting, but in 2012, initiated Results-Based Budgeting (RBB). This session is to review the performance approach, explain RBB, and introduce the Institute of Public Administration's assessment of the RBB exercise.
	CHAIR: David J. Cooper, Professor of Accounting, School of Business, University of Alberta John R. Allen, Principal, John R. Allen Management Consulting Keith Brownsey, Professor, Department of Policy Studies, Mount Royal University Melville McMillan, Professor Emeritus, Department of Economics, University of Alberta and Fellow, Institute of Public Economics, University of Alberta
3:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.	Closing Remarks
	Bev Dahlby, Distinguished Fellow, The School of Public Policy

SOURCE: The School of Public Policy - University of Calgary

Morten Paulsen, 403.399.3377, [email protected]