An excellent article about the Alberta economy
Great explanation of Alberta's current economic plan and why deficit spending at this point in time is necessary:
http://calgaryherald.com/business/energy/dodges-infrastructure-report-offers-important-economics-lesson
One of the comments under the article is that Keynesian economics doesn't work. Um, not sure what business school that twit went to, but it has never been disproven, and it has worked quite well in many economies (see current US economy). What HAS been roundly disproven (according to my econ textbooks) is Reaganomics/supply-side (see also the much laughed at, appropriately named, Laffer-curve).
It's not something that is talked about in Alberta - that King Ralph really hurt Alberta. Most people I speak with on a daily basis simply don't remember that era. However, decades of a lack of infrastructure spending is VERY apparent all over the province, but mostly in the cities. Not enough hospitals, not enough schools, older bridges, lack of road improvements has really hurt my area. From the time I left home and moved up north (in 1995) until I came back in 2010 there was not a single new school built in my hometown, even though the population had quadrupled during that time. Our main road out of town had no major improvements from 1979-2012 despite the population increase. You can imagine the gridlock. Now the current government is playing catch up. Ralph didn't do us any favors and Ralph didn't save us any money. He just put off the necessary for the future when it would be more expensive. It is now the future and it cannot be put off any further.
Now is the time to stimulate the economy, not during a boom. The conservatives have had it backwards for the last 40 years exacerbating the boom/bust cycle and now is the time to fix it.