The study concludes that Alberta's growth has been export-led, driven by oil and gas exports to the U.S. market. B.C. has seen a steady increase in health care spending, and currently ranks first among the provinces with respect to public health care spending per capita. Alberta, in contrast, now ranks last among the provinces in per capita public health expenditures. Not everyone shares in Alberta's boom. Alberta is approximately twice as dependent as B.C. on the resource sector for its government revenues.
Net exports are positive for Alberta.
In B.C., however, net exports are negative, and thus a drag on growth. Rather, the economic ups and downs experienced by each province reflect international prices and demand for the province's major commodity exports. Taken from The CCPA Monitor April 1999.