Province’s Delayed Annual Report: Another Blow to Fiscal Accountability

From: Lennie Kaplan 

To: Alberta transparency watchers 

Date: August 17, 2026 

Re: Province’s Delayed Annual Report: Another Blow to Fiscal Accountability  

The decision to delay the release of Alberta’s 2025/26 annual report and audited financial statements until as late as September 30th continues a disturbing trend by the current government to erode the high standards of fiscal transparency and accountability established by Premier Ralph Klein and Provincial Treasurer Jim Dinning in the 1990s.   

The Government Accountability Act, introduced in 1995, established the lauded precedent for releasing the province’s annual report and audited financial statements by June 30th, a first among Canadian provinces.   

After 30 years of adhering to best practice, the current Alberta government cites financial complexities associated with healthcare restructuring as the reason for delay this year. 

This was despite the fact that the significant healthcare restructuring occurring in previous years, including the amalgamation of regional health authorities under the auspices of Alberta Health Services in 2008, did not delay the release of the annual report and audited statements.   

This unfortunate decision follows on the heels of the government passing legislation last year to dissolve the Provincial Audit Committee, which was established as part of the Auditor General Act of 1977, and whose functions were significantly enhanced by the 1993 Deficit Elimination Act.   

The audit committee played an important role in fiscal policy oversight, particularly as it related to monitoring progress on eliminating the provincial deficit, the provincial debt, and government compliance with recommendations of blue-ribbon commissions, such as the Alberta Financial Management Commission.  

Unfortunately, the committee’s dissolution followed the 2024 decision by government to no longer prepare a multi-year update of its fiscal plan, by the end of November each year, as recommended by the 2019 MacKinnon Panel on Alberta’s Finances. In Budget 2019, the Jason Kenney government accepted the panel’s recommendation and began mid-year reporting on a multi-year basis, beginning with the 2020/21 mid-year fiscal update report. The current government’s decision to abandon the mid-year fiscal update is inconsistent with best practice in British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec, as well as with guidelines established by the OECD and IMF.   

It is hard to understand why the Alberta government is backsliding on fiscal transparency and accountability, as tracked annually by such organizations as the C.D. Howe Institute. In the name of rebuilding Alberta’s well-deserved tradition of fiscal transparency and accountability, the government needs to re-establish the Provincial Audit Committee, restore the multi-year update of its fiscal plan, and release the province’s 2025/26 annual report and audited financial statements, as soon as possible. 

Lennie Kaplan is a former senior manager in the Fiscal and Economic Policy Division of Alberta’s Ministry of Treasury Board and Finance and won a Corporate Values Award for his work on Alberta’s Fiscal Framework Review. In 2019, Mr. Kaplan served as Executive Director to the MacKinnon Panel on Alberta’s Finances.  

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The views expressed here are those of the author. The C.D. Howe Institute does not take corporate positions on policy matters.