Revenue shortfall pushes Alberta’s financial situation from bad to worse

CALGARY – With the Alberta budget due in less than a month, a revenue shortfall continues to damage Alberta’s bottom line.

Finance Minister Doug Horner says almost 500 management positions in the public sector — or 10 per cent — will be cut over three years.

Horner says in his 2012-13 third-quarter fiscal update that resource income is $2.4 billion lower than expected.

As a result, he is forecasting a deficit of between $3.5 and $4 billion.

That’s at least four times more than forecast in last spring’s budget.

Horner has also announced plans for a three-year management salary freeze beginning April 1, which is expected to save taxpayers $54 million.

The province had already projected a revenue shortfall due to the difference between benchmark prices for oil in North America and what Alberta receives for its oilsands bitumen.

The Alberta budget is to be delivered March 7.

Premier Alison Redford has warned there will be tough choices required, but has ruled out tax increases or a provincial sales tax.