Western Standard - HANNAFORD： Pity about the budget but investors should still love Alberta

00:00:00.000 Good evening, Western Standard viewers, and welcome to Hannaford, a weekly politics show.

00:00:22.020 I'm Nigel Hannaford.

00:00:23.220 It is Thursday, February the 26th, and in Alberta, it is Budget Day.

00:00:30.680 My guest today is Peter Piovic, a Calgary-based Senior Portfolio Manager at Wellington Altus Private Wealth Canada.

00:00:39.180 Welcome back to the show, Peter.

00:00:41.940 Nigel, thank you very much for having me here again.

00:00:45.880 Peter, a few hours ago, the Alberta government dropped its budget, and Finance Minister Horner confirmed what we have...

00:00:53.220 been expecting, a large deficit, $9.3 billion, and quite a lot of other headline news that we didn't really want to hear,

00:01:04.860 like more deficits in the future.

00:01:08.660 Peter, welcome to the show.

00:01:10.080 Perhaps you can explain this to us.

00:01:12.960 Thank you.

00:01:13.700 So, what do you think, Nigel?

00:01:16.300 Does this sound like a doom and gloom budget?

00:01:19.180 Well, that was my question for you, because any time there's a deficit, I, you know, perhaps I'm just projecting from my own finances onto the province,

00:01:27.960 but it always feels terrible when the outgoings exceed the incomings.

00:01:31.940 But government financing is a different kind of thing.

00:01:35.200 So, does this really change anything about the fundamental strengths or weaknesses of the Alberta economy?

00:01:43.340 You're advising people on where to invest their money.

00:01:47.320 Is Alberta still good?

00:01:49.460 Very much so.

00:01:50.580 I did listen to the beginning of the budget address by Minister Horner.

00:01:56.380 It did seem a little bit conciliatory, you know, in his tone.

00:01:59.920 But the reality of it is, is there's a lot to look forward to.

00:02:04.900 I mean, myself, I moved to Alberta for a reason four years ago.

00:02:08.600 You were in Winnipeg, weren't you?

00:02:10.280 Yes, I was in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

00:02:12.380 And, you know, I moved to Alberta for many of the same reasons that many others moved to Alberta.

00:02:19.760 That it's one of the best, if not the best place in the country, really, if you're seeking, what would you call it, economic prosperity or opportunities.

00:02:30.220 In general.

00:02:30.820 And I don't really see anything changing from that in this, in this budget.

00:02:35.100 So, just a look at a few, few things.

00:02:37.600 First of all, deregulation, both in United States and Canada, even federally, and in Alberta as well, we're going through a deregulation cycle or where, where regulations are being looked at.

00:02:49.620 And it's being addressed as to how efficient or inefficient those regulations are, and are they helping or hurting the economy?

00:02:56.480 And certainly the push right now is to make things better and run smoother.

00:03:01.520 And it's quite well known that many projects have not gotten off the ground, both in Alberta and many other parts of Canada, due to basically an overly heavy regulatory environment.

00:03:12.660 And I think there's a consciousness right now that that needs to change.

00:03:17.340 And Alberta is probably at the spearhead of that.

00:03:19.320 So, that's maybe the first question.

00:03:20.080 Let me just ask you about that regulatory environment.

00:03:22.040 Much of it has to do with imposing a green orthodoxy on the energy industry.

00:03:28.720 Yes.

00:03:28.940 So, you can make the case that some of these things, like containing methane leaks, are just a good thing to do anyway.

00:03:35.980 But when it becomes such a burden to the industry that is starting to affect production and people's willingness to invest, what have you seen in deregulation that gives you hope?

00:03:46.940 Well, first of all, there's a bit of order.

00:03:49.940 If you look at the MOU that was recently signed, there's a lot more clarity in terms of the direction that they're going with respect to, say, carbon capture and also industrial carbon taxes.

00:04:02.580 So, while we may not all like what we heard there, at least we have some certainty and some clarity in terms of the direction that they're going, for starters.

00:04:11.600 And, and there's been, like I said before, multiple examples of projects, just simply not getting off the ground due to excessive regulation or approvals that just took, you know, essentially way too long, you know, for them to come to fruition.

00:04:26.180 And some of those projects ended up going to the US.

00:04:29.340 So, at least we have an awareness of that right now.

00:04:31.400 And I do believe change is coming, but it's not really just, you know, regulations that there's opportunities here, you know, for the federal government with respect to tariff negotiations.

00:04:41.180 And negotiating a new trade deal in the US that if done correctly, you know, could, could end up helping things in the next year to two years, um, with respect to Alberta, um, we're in the middle of, uh, bringing up discussions on say equalization payments, for example, and federal transfer payments, which again, no guarantees, but there's an opportunity there for, uh, possibly Alberta to negotiate a more favorable, uh, deal.

00:05:09.960 So, um, put another way, you know, we, uh, we saw that $9 billion plus deficit right now, but what would the deficit be if we weren't paying, uh, so much, uh, in equalization payments, um, as a collective society, not, not the government, of course, the government doesn't pay directly to the federal government for transfers.

00:05:32.460 Uh, but the people of Alberta and the business of Alberta do.

00:05:36.480 So, uh, I would hazard a guess that it may not be a 9 billion, uh, plus it'd be something less than that, if not even zero.

00:05:43.920 Um, so there's opportunities there.

00:05:45.920 Well, I might have, what is the, what is considered to be a reasonable guess at the cost of equalization to Alberta?

00:05:54.200 I think it's pretty high.

00:05:55.520 It's quite high.

00:05:56.320 So if it depends, if you're looking at just equalization or total, let's call it transfers or transfers of wealth outside of Alberta.

00:06:04.140 And, uh, of course, these are, these estimates can vary year by year, they're not the same every year and they're always a moving target.

00:06:10.460 But if you look at say total transfers or total wealth net, uh, that are leaving Alberta per year, probably in the neighborhood of 12, 13, $14 billion a year.

00:06:20.880 And again, that comes from people and Alberta businesses.

00:06:24.680 Um, if you look at specifics to how much of that goes to equalization of which the majority of that would go to Quebec, but not just Quebec, you know, other Eastern provinces and so forth.

00:06:35.420 Um, it's probably in that four to $5 billion range.

00:06:38.540 That's right.

00:06:39.080 Yeah.

00:06:39.360 So that's a net loss of wealth leaving the province.

00:06:42.500 Um, that's going elsewhere.

00:06:45.000 And I think the intent is good.

00:06:46.780 You know, you want to share in the wealth to some degree across Canada, but the, uh, but some problems can arise from that.

00:06:52.700 So for example, if certain provinces are say receiving equalization, um, for free essentially, and that now disincentivizes

00:07:03.300 them to develop their own natural gas resources.

00:07:05.800 So for example, Quebec, you know, has tremendous, uh, ability to generate, um, resource extraction.

00:07:14.640 Uh, so does New Brunswick.

00:07:16.020 There's shale gas opportunities there and many other provinces, but maybe the incentive is not quite there if they're receiving Alberta equalization.

00:07:23.880 So these are things that are hopeful and we're not baked in there, but they are opportunities.

00:07:33.360 They are opportunities.

00:07:35.160 Um, the fundamentals of Alberta, like where we make our money, the size of the skills of our workforce, uh, they haven't changed, but they're not, but there's not enough.

00:07:48.960 So if we're, what are the opportunities on the cost cutting side, when you have massive increases in immigration into the province?

00:08:01.020 Okay.

00:08:01.280 So the cost cutting would be, uh, let's call it a controversial topic, you know, because, um, there's a percentage of government spending that's actually attributed to GDP.

00:08:13.320 Okay.

00:08:13.520 And this is actually a good news story for Alberta.

00:08:15.660 Um, you can measure province by province, you know, across the country and basically ask the question and it's like, okay, you know, that province has, you know, X amount of GDP.

00:08:24.480 How much of that GDP is directly attributed to government spending?

00:08:29.900 And in the case of Alberta, it's the lowest in the country by far.

00:08:34.520 Really?

00:08:35.100 Yeah, really.

00:08:35.880 Yeah.

00:08:36.200 You know, it's still, there, there are some provinces where that number, uh, could be 30%, 40%, or even more than 40%.

00:08:45.660 You know, without naming the provinces, of course, um, and, you know, in, in, in Alberta, um, I think, I think I had the number here somewhere, but I believe it's in that, uh, 20 percentile range.

00:08:57.720 Um, you know, it's low, it's substantially lower than other provinces.

00:09:02.280 So, so, so, you know, so we're already pretty lean with respect to that as a percentage of GDP.

00:09:09.280 Um, and then like, but keep in mind when you cost cut, you know, there is also a hit to GDP, uh, in the case of Alberta, that hit is lower because it has a lower, uh, attribution, uh, of government spending to GDP.

00:09:24.180 I think a province such as Alberta would be more attractive to investors if they have a low government, uh, investment in the economy.

00:09:33.120 Yeah.

00:09:33.340 I mean, you don't want to invest in a private sector economy, private sector economy.

00:09:37.620 Yeah.

00:09:38.100 So not a public sector economy.

00:09:40.020 Alberta is a private sector economy, uh, predominantly more than other provinces.

00:09:44.520 Amen.

00:09:44.880 And long may it last.

00:09:45.840 Uh, so, okay, I, I am, uh, prepared to accept at base value the finance minister's line that the difficulties they face this year are a consequence of low oil prices and, uh, of, uh, very high levels of in-migration. 0.86

00:10:05.520 I'm saying in-migration rather than on-immigration because, you know, it can be people like you who are moving in, uh, and you bring all your children with you and how we need a new school in Northwest Calvary.

00:10:18.240 Um, so now seriously, Peter, um, if that's, uh, if we have a growing economy, why do we not have, uh, a growing tax base?

00:10:30.720 How much of this is really immigration?

00:10:32.460 Uh, how much is it oil is depressed?

00:10:34.860 Yeah, I would say the majority is, I mean, without looking at the details of the numbers, uh, you and I both just, you know, they were close to a pretty short look at the budget.

00:10:44.580 Um, I, I'd say mostly it's oil prices.

00:10:46.920 I mean, they're, they're sure.

00:10:48.140 Some could be attributed to, um, immigration, whatever you want to call it, but it, but it's an offset again.

00:10:55.380 You know, uh, I moved here, you know, four years ago from Manitoba, um, a lot of, uh, immigrants, immigrants.

00:11:02.460 That come to Alberta are paying taxes.

00:11:04.980 Some are not.

00:11:06.240 So it really comes down to the proportion of, uh, the immigration that's coming in.

00:11:10.220 Um, are they economic migrants or the other types of migrants?

00:11:14.580 Um, so, uh, so it might come down to, you call it a quality over quantity argument.

00:11:20.200 Um, so I guess what people want to know, what I want to know is how big a problem is this?

00:11:26.180 I mean, we have got inflation locked into the economy.

00:11:29.380 So if we say we've got a, a $9 billion deficit today, that's probably like a, a $6 billion deficit

00:11:38.380 said 10 years ago, well, not to be quoted, but, uh, these things do matter and $60 oil today, what, uh, what would that have been 10 years ago in terms of real purchasing power?

00:11:54.220 Yeah.

00:11:54.520 So if you, you know, when I look at my bank account, I see what you're saying, investments are, are, are higher numbers, but they don't buy what they, what they, uh, bought 10 years ago.

00:12:04.180 So are we in as, is this as bad as it looks?

00:12:07.600 No, it's not.

00:12:08.860 Um, so again, uh, so what you're referring to is, is specifically monetary inflation, as opposed to, uh, necessarily just looking at CPI.

00:12:16.600 CPI is part of it, but, but it's definitely more of a monetary inflation argument.

00:12:20.020 So, so to your, to your point, uh, $9 billion today, if you look at it 10 years ago, it's not 9 billion, it's something less than that.

00:12:27.940 You know, we have to do the math in terms of what the exact numbers are, but you're probably not far off, you know, in, in your, in your estimates.

00:12:34.340 So, so, you know, but that also is attributable to, um, uh, to GDP as well.

00:12:40.880 So GDP over time, part of that increase in GDP is actually also attributed to, uh, to monetary inflation.

00:12:48.140 So it kind of goes both ways.

00:12:49.520 That's why it's really important to look at, um, GDP ratios, whether it's net to GDP ratios or, um, or, or, uh, net GDP ratios or gross GDP ratios.

00:12:59.540 And in either case, actually, Alberta, you know, by far has the lowest, um, uh, debt to GDP ratios in Canada.

00:13:09.260 So despite the budget that we just seen, uh, we are still far ahead of any other province in the country, um, in terms of either, uh, uh, net debt to GDP ratio, or even gross debt to GDP ratio.

00:13:22.700 So what roughly would be our gross debt to GDP ratio?

00:13:27.320 Uh, it's, it's in the budget documents.

00:13:30.020 It's in that eight percentile, sorry, not the gross, they quote the net and they quote the net in the budget.

00:13:35.340 It's in that, uh, let's call it eight and a half, 8.7 range.

00:13:39.600 Uh, the one thing I did see briefly in the budget document that just got released a short time ago, uh, is they are projecting, uh, that net debt to GDP ratio to rise, uh, over the next three years from in that eight percentile range up to 10, 11 and 12.

00:13:56.340 So what would be the, uh, GDP, uh, to deficit ratio for the federal government?

00:14:02.040 Just this.

00:14:02.400 Well, it's higher.

00:14:03.660 Yeah.

00:14:03.900 Well, I think it's vastly higher.

00:14:05.220 It's vastly higher.

00:14:06.120 You know, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's significantly higher, but just also just to compare it to other provinces.

00:14:11.320 So, uh, so Saskatchewan is around 15%, you know, currently now that will be the next closest one.

00:14:18.540 Um, British Columbia is around 26%, a little bit over Ontario is around 37%, Quebec's around 40%.

00:14:26.820 So, you know, once again, you know, we're not really in a, uh, in a bad place.

00:14:33.120 And if you look at gross, um, uh, gross ratios, debt to GDP, uh, Alberta is again, the lowest at around 30%.

00:14:41.220 Nova Scotia is closer to 40%.

00:14:42.940 British Columbia is about 40%.

00:14:44.500 Quebec's at 83% and Manitoba is also at 83%.

00:14:48.600 So you're all home.

00:14:51.460 Well, yes, all right.

00:14:52.460 Yes, it is.

00:14:52.980 Um, so when, when you.

00:14:55.680 When you advise clients and looking at enough investment in Alberta, I say, well, you guys are, are, are running deficits.

00:15:06.440 Uh, there's any, who's running the show there?

00:15:09.840 You know, the, to these people have a, sure they have a low debt to GDP ratio today.

00:15:16.000 What was it 10 years ago?

00:15:17.920 Are they getting worse?

00:15:19.900 Are they getting better?

00:15:21.400 Can I confidently place my money in Alberta?

00:15:25.680 Was the expectation that the place is not going to go broke?

00:15:29.160 Yes.

00:15:29.880 We are nowhere near the debt to GDP ratios, whether it's net or gross, um, to, to the point where there's any discussion whatsoever about going broke.

00:15:39.180 Uh, and far, far away from that.

00:15:41.560 Uh, and, um, while, uh, nobody, including myself likes the fact that let's just say we might be going in the wrong direction somewhat, um, in, in terms of, uh, uh, both the net debt to GDP ratio and also net debt and, um, and the deficit.

00:15:58.440 You know, arising that nobody really wants to see that, um, necessarily, but we're still financially in a better position relatively than other Canadian provinces.

00:16:07.580 And on, on top of that as well, like just looking into the future, um, if you think it through, you know, we're going through, uh, there's different names from some people might call it a fourth turning or some people might want to call it.

00:16:19.160 Um, let's just say a lot of change that's happening in the economy, uh, whether it's, uh, due to artificial intelligence, uh, that's coming to the forefront or whether it's, oh, um, de-globalization, let's just say, and reshoring and manufacturing to North America.

00:16:36.980 Um, all those things are happening.

00:16:38.640 AI is happening.

00:16:39.660 The reshoring is happening.

00:16:41.380 Um, a focus on manufacturing is happening, but with that, you know, that manufacturing needs energy.

00:16:47.380 Lots and lots and lots of energy and look where we live, we have lots and lots of energy, you know, natural gas and oil and, and, uh, and in the budget as well, there were provisions for the development of a nuclear as well on top of that.

00:17:03.760 And so we could play a pivotal role, um, in this, uh, shift towards, um, having, let's just say more industrial capacity and manufacturing within North America.

00:17:15.400 We can play a pivotal role, uh, for that transition, call it de-globalization, um, you know, given the amount of energy and natural resources that we have to the point that could, uh, you know, really make this a wonderful place to live for decades to come.

00:17:29.940 A strange thing, you know, for decades, we've been talking about globalization as a good thing.

00:17:34.680 And now you can casually drop into a sentence, the word de-globalization with confident expectation that everybody's, you know, great, good idea.

00:17:44.940 By the time we did that.

00:17:45.820 Yeah.

00:17:46.180 Yeah.

00:17:46.720 Well, it's complicated, but it's, things are changing it.

00:17:49.540 You know, when, you know, what can change that is a few wars.

00:17:51.940 Uh, so if you have a few wars where all of a sudden, let's just say that, uh, we're running out of, uh, ammunition in those wars, uh, to the point.

00:18:01.600 And the reason we're running out is because we can't produce enough on our own without asking others, you know, for that production who may not want to give it to us.

00:18:11.480 Okay.

00:18:12.480 Well, that's, that is a harder thing to, uh, to predict.

00:18:16.700 And heaven help us.

00:18:17.700 I hope it's, I hope it stays that way.

00:18:21.180 What I, I, I, so Alberta, the fundamentals in Alberta remain strong.

00:18:27.440 They remain very strong.

00:18:28.260 And you would advise, uh, people to continue to put their money here.

00:18:33.780 Um, I was, I was struck by.

00:18:38.720 fact that there's no reported contributions to the heritage fund. I can sort of see that you

00:18:47.440 don't put money into your TFSA when you're struggling to pay your visa bill, if I can

00:18:54.020 use that as an analogy. But are there any costs to breaking step in that policy? Wouldn't it have

00:19:02.320 been more wise to keep it going? So potentially, I did read a quick excerpt in the budget document

00:19:09.320 that the rationale there is that the rate of return of the heritage fund on its own, so with

00:19:17.240 no additional contributions to the heritage fund, that the province of Alberta will reach their

00:19:24.200 targets for the heritage fund by 2050. So in a way, they might just do one of these, saying we don't

00:19:29.260 have to do anything, we can just let it grow, and it'll get there. However, and it is a however

00:19:34.120 with that is, there's a risk in that too, as well. You're now relying on that rate of return to

00:19:39.820 continue being what it currently is. And if it isn't for whatever reason, then that may not hold

00:19:48.560 true. And but that's even just looking at it from a financial perspective. The fund from what I can

00:19:54.940 tell is invested primarily in financial assets. Another thing I may want to bring up is other

00:19:59.920 reserve funds in other parts of the world, including down in the United States. It's not just a financial

00:20:06.880 fund, so to speak. In these reserve funds, they hold assets, call it minerals, it could be gold,

00:20:14.560 it could be silver, it could be copper, it could be uranium, it could be, basically think of it this

00:20:19.660 way, things that the economy may need in the future, whether it's for industrial output, manufacturing,

00:20:25.240 or some sort of a monetary base. It doesn't necessarily all have to revolve around, you know,

00:20:32.260 like looking at just like an investment fund. Of course, we look at the projected goal of 200 and,

00:20:38.260 I think it's 250 billion dollars. I believe that's what it was. Yeah, I've ever written

00:20:42.340 our sons around there. What 250 billion dollars is going to look like in 25 years, 24 years time,

00:20:49.840 whether you get the same confidence out of that big number that you have have today. It's like,

00:20:56.140 when you're planning retirement, when you're 25. Right. Let's see,

00:20:59.320 justify inflation. How much is that really? Yeah, yeah. Oh, I mean, if you, if you had the

00:21:06.700 premiums there, would you say maybe, maybe expand the targets a little? I would say,

00:21:11.560 uh, if I had the premiums there to, uh, and obviously it's not wrong the way it's being done

00:21:17.020 now, uh, necessarily, uh, but there is an argument to be had, uh, or discussion to be had, let's just

00:21:23.740 say, uh, but what does Alberta need in the next 20, 30 years? Uh, what does the economy of Alberta need?

00:21:29.080 And what of that, that they need might for whatever reason come into shortage. And if it does come into

00:21:37.540 the shortage, you know, uh, you know, should we not let's stockpile some of it, or at least have

00:21:43.360 that available, uh, to the economy of Alberta in the future. Um, or another argument would be,

00:21:49.540 you know, what happens to the, to money let's just see, or how, or how money is valued, uh, over the

00:21:55.720 next, you know, 20, 25 years. And it's, it's, it's uncertain. Uh, so possibly diversifying a bit away

00:22:02.740 from, uh, simply financial assets might be something you want to think about. Hmm. Yes.

00:22:08.020 Um, how, I mean, what does that actually look like? Could you actually find an old reservoir and pump

00:22:12.820 it, pump all the oil back into it? Is that the sort of strategic reserve you're talking about?

00:22:18.400 Uh, I believe the United States has, uh, I don't know the exact number, but it's something north of

00:22:23.620 20, uh, commodities that they classify as a strategic reserve. Um, a lot of people don't really know

00:22:30.340 that, but they do. So they're thinking ahead and in terms of what the economy might need,

00:22:35.080 but it could be something as simple as, uh, like I said, stockpiling, potentially gold and silver as

00:22:39.640 monetary assets, in addition to financial assets that are already there. And also industrial metals,

00:22:44.980 you know, copper, you know, other, other industrial metals, possibly uranium, especially for thinking of,

00:22:50.620 of, um, of, uh, you know, incorporating nuclear reactors into our energy base of the next 10, 15,

00:22:57.900 20 years, uh, maybe having some uranium in storage, uh, to fuel those reactors would, um, reduce the risk.

00:23:07.840 Let's just say of having to buy it at a higher price, 10 years from now.

00:23:12.320 One of the, um, I'm, I'm picturing these warehouses full of copper ingots.

00:23:16.880 Yep. Um, there he is.

00:23:19.080 Well, yes. Uh, until you've refined it, you don't really know what you've got, do you?

00:23:24.300 Right. So I'm, I'm picturing this economy that is, that we're building here, that is going to be

00:23:34.480 different in kind. You made the, you made the point about the fourth turning and the end of

00:23:40.500 globalization and so on. Are we right to think then that in 10, 15 years time, Alberta is going to be

00:23:49.360 doing the same things as it is now. We've, once we did cows, that's why we'll, you know, have the,

00:23:56.440 have the cowboy hats in July. Then we did oil. Are you going to be doing oil forever?

00:24:04.380 I could imagine we'd be doing oil for a very long time. Okay. You know, well into the next century.

00:24:10.740 However, that doesn't mean that that's the only thing we would do. Uh, I can, I can foresee a future

00:24:16.380 where we're still, you know, we still have lots of oil, lots of natural gas, uh, but we have other,

00:24:21.720 uh, sources of energy as well, including nuclear and, and who knows what's going to be invented in

00:24:26.720 the next, you know, 50 to 75 years. Who saw AI coming? The, um, so we keep doing what we're doing.

00:24:35.780 Yep. And we keep trying to, uh, resist the higher, the higher wages in, uh, I guess let's face it.

00:24:48.160 80% of what they spend is, uh, in wages. And most of it is in, uh, education and health at the same

00:24:55.080 time as we're have an expanding population and full, fulling oil prices, stay the course and tough it

00:25:03.400 out. Times will change and times will get better.

00:25:07.660 Times will get better. They're really not that bad at the end of the day, even today. Um, but of

00:25:12.100 course, I, I believe there's, and that's one of the things that makes Alberta great. There's, there's

00:25:17.560 this wonderful attitude in Alberta where, because things have been so well due to, um, let's call it

00:25:25.020 the entrepreneurial and hardworking appetite of, of, of Albertans. Our expectation level is so much

00:25:31.020 higher than it is in other, in other places. And as soon as we just misstep a little bit, um, you

00:25:36.960 know, it's, it's, uh, there's, there's questions about, is this the end? So to speak. Uh, but that's

00:25:42.480 although I'll look at that as a positive rather than a negative.

00:25:45.060 What about a sales tax?

00:25:47.200 Oh, that's a complicated one. Uh, so, um, so I'll, I'll answer it really quickly this way. So a sales tax,

00:25:54.260 uh, without a commensurate reduction in income tax, uh, I would say is a very bad idea. At the end of the day,

00:26:00.020 you're removing wealth from Albertans and you're removing their ability to spend that wealth into

00:26:04.160 the economy. Uh, and you're also, uh, creating, uh, issues to attract capital to Alberta, you know,

00:26:09.720 from that, uh, if the sales tax is commensurate with a tax deduction, uh, so that it's either

00:26:15.740 net neutral or a net benefit, then that's something that could be discussed. Um, but, uh, but it

00:26:21.200 shouldn't be just looked at as a, as a quick, um, smash and grab, let's say.

00:26:25.040 I cannot imagine a government that would be faithful to any promise to, well, just, this

00:26:31.880 is just a straight switch. Pretty soon. This one will be back up again.

00:26:36.020 That's a concern.

00:26:37.220 And it's pick your politicians carefully, but pick your province and Alberta is the place.

00:26:43.180 That's on that note. I think we should wrap it up.

00:26:45.580 I would agree.

00:26:46.240 Yes.

00:26:46.600 And I'm, and I like the no sales tax, you know, here in Alberta, by the way.

00:26:50.840 Yes. Yes. It's, uh, it was one of the reasons maybe come here.

00:26:56.980 Exactly.

00:26:57.300 The only one.

00:26:57.880 Anyway, Peter, thank you so much for coming in today. It's been a really good to get yours.

00:27:02.340 The investment advisor's perspective on a provincial budget as we go through uncertain times.

00:27:11.340 It's easy to panic. It takes a little more discipline to just see the thing through.

00:27:17.680 Thanks, Nigel.

00:27:18.360 Peter, thank you.

00:27:19.540 Thank you.

00:27:20.000 For the Western Standard, I'm Nigel Hannaford.

00:27:22.220 Thank you.

Western Standard - March 01, 2026

HANNAFORD： Pity about the budget but investors should still love Alberta

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