Alberta facing unprecedented deficit

EDMONTON, Alberta, April 8 (UPI) -- The oil giant of Canadian provinces, Alberta, is looking at an unprecedented deficit of $4.7 billion this year, the premier announced in Edmonton.

Premier Ed Stelmach told the legislature the deficit would be protracted over four years but vowed there would be no reduction in provincial services, The Globe and Mail reported.

"We're going to dip into our emergency savings and make sure that we keep the momentum of this economy going," Stelmach said.

Based on its oil and gas resources, the province is the only one of 10 in Canada that doesn't have a provincial sales tax. From the oil boom years, Alberta became debt-free but now faces a deficit of $10.3 billion over four years. Officials with the Conservative government said the plan was to borrow $1.1 billion a year for the next three years to fund capital spending, the Globe said.

The fall into deficit was attributed to plummeting energy prices, the battered stock market and reduced corporate investment in the province, the report said.