Bell: 'Huge risk' — Smith's budget boss warns Albertans of perils of separatism

“I think it confirmed what all of us suspected,” says Jason Nixon, budget boss in the UCP government led by Premier Danielle Smith, of the explosive report on the costs of Alberta leaving Canada.

It is an independent probe commissioned by the Smith government through Nixon’s office.

Nixon considers the look-see to be the most credible thing he has seen “on a topic that has not been well-researched.”

“We needed experts to go and deal with the eye-glazing numbers academics can spend a lot of time on doing math.”

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Eye-glazing. The final numbers in the report, the math coughed up by the calculators, are eye-popping .

In the long term, if Alberta’s exit from Canada is difficult, annual wages for workers could be almost $12,000 below what they would have earned if Alberta had not separated.

“There is significant risk to Alberta leaving Confederation,” says Nixon.

“If everything goes perfect there could also be small benefits to the province, particularly to the provincial government.

“I will leave it to you and your readers to determine the likelihood of everything going perfect with something like this.

“What is really clear is the risk to everyday Albertans, people who need to pay their mortgages, people trying to put their kids through college, people who just live their lives in Alberta. It is significant.”

Nixon points many times to what he sees as the considerable risks of separation.