After I posted Alberta’s spending relative to GDP on Twitter, some suggested that it would be more appropriate to compare per capita spending. So here is that data for 2017. You see that far from being out of line, Alberta’s per capita spending is right in line with the national average of the provinces:
But, I still do not believe that this tells the best story. Alberta has, by far, the highest levels of income in Canada:
There are two things to note with this added information in mind. First, Alberta’s level of spending becomes much more affordable when you consider that Albertans make more money and can afford to spend more. Secondly, it gives information as to why per capita spending would be higher. The labour market in Alberta is more expensive than in other provinces – and therefore, the labour costs to run government will be higher.
With this in mind, it is better to compare per capita spending levels by adjusting for household income. Here, you see that Alberta’s per capita spending, as a percentage of median household income, is in line with BC and Ontario as the three lowest in the country:
As always, the data for these graphs is available here.
