(Adds background and more finance minister comments, paragraphs
3-9)
By Mike De Souza
CALGARY, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Canada's oil-producing province
of Alberta, which has been hammered by falling crude prices,
will delay plans to balance its budget by one year to 2019-2020,
Finance Minister Joe Ceci said on Wednesday.
Ceci said the deteriorating economic situation would make it
difficult for the government to keep its previous commitment
while protecting public services.
The New Democratic government, which ended 44 years of
Conservative rule in a May election, projects a record deficit
of up to C$6.5 billion ($4.95 billion) for this year, but Ceci
said he would introduce a responsible plan to return to balanced
finances in a budget on Oct. 27.
Alberta, the largest source of U.S. crude imports, has not
yet approved a budget in 2015 because the previous plan
introduced by the former Progressive Conservative government was
not adopted before the election campaign.
"Continued low oil prices are putting particular pressure on
us here in Alberta," Ceci said at a news conference in Edmonton.
"What I'm saying today is it's going to take a little longer
to reach balance than outlined earlier."
This is the second time the New Democrats have delayed their
plans to balance the budget after revising their platform during
the spring election campaign due to an accounting error.
The government took steps in June to increase revenues when
it raised the province's corporate tax rate from 10 percent to
12 percent. But when asked whether he planned further tax
increases, Ceci said Albertans should not brace for any big
surprises in the budget.
"You'll have to wait till next week, but I can tell you that
the kind of surprises coming will not be substantive," he said.
Ceci also said the budget would introduce plans to protect
public services and stimulate growth by diversifying the
province's economy which has lost thousands of jobs in recent
months in the energy sector.
($1 = 1.3124 Canadian dollars)