By Jeffrey Jones
CALGARY, Alberta, March 7 (Reuters) – Deeply discounted
prices for Alberta heavy crude oil have forced the Western
Canadian province into a sixth straight deficit and prompted the
once miserly government to borrow C$4.3 billion ($4.17 billion)
to help fund badly needed roads, schools and hospitals, it said
on Thursday.
The government of Conservative Premier Alison Redford, which
has been warning for months of a multibillion-dollar drop in
energy resource revenues, said it will have an overall 2013-14
budget shortfall of C$1.97 billion.
That compares with a previous fiscal year deficit of C$3.9
billion, though the government has changed the presentation of
its accounting to separate funds used for operating from those
used for capital spending.
From a solely operating standpoint, the deficit is C$451
million, compared with year-earlier C$1.4 billion, it said.
