In an effort to allow Alberta residents to weigh in on a budget that’s expected to include a multi-billion dollar deficit – the province launched a new website Wednesday, to allow Albertans to have their say.
The website includes a tool to allow the user to simulate making spending and revenue decisions – that illustrates the impacts each decision has on the budget.
The province said the online tool outlines a cross-section of programs and services included in each provincial department.
In addition, information from the 2012 provincial budget, updated with numbers from the second quarter fiscal update was also included to make the exercise as realistic as possible.
Launching the website comes after Premier Alison Redford openly spoke a number of times about the lower-than-expected revenue Alberta is earning, due to the lower price of Alberta bitumen compared to American oil.
According to the province, the price gap is costing Alberta millions of dollars each day in potential revenue, translating to approximately $6 billion in losses in one year.
