Don't pop the cork quite yet, but there are some signs of hope for taxpayers around the Alberta Legislature this spring.

The first sign came during the premier's annually televised address which lays out the government's vision for the upcoming year. Strangely, it aired a mere 21 hours before the Speech from the Throne, which is also supposed to lay out the government's vision for the upcoming year.

During the address the premier announced a $1 billion injection into the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund, the first injection of money into the Fund since 1987. This is in addition to the already announced $345 million deposit to inflation proof the Fund.

It's a far cry from dedicating 50% of all royalty revenues (expected to hit $14.4 billion in 2005-06) into the Heritage Fund, as was recommended by the CTF in 2001, and reiterated in our 2006-07 pre-budget submission.

Nonetheless, taxpayers can hope this investment will breathe new life into a Fund that has been the government's cookie jar for much of the past two decades. The Heritage Fund has been used to bankroll questionable investments in the name of economic diversification. It has been robbed of over $28 billion in interest to fund general revenues, and it barely survived an attempted hatchet job in 2002 when Albertans were presented with a biased survey asking them on how best to liquidate it.

All the while the Fund has dropped significantly in real value. Its pre-injection balance of $12.2 billion would have run the government for 336 days back in 1987-88. Now that $12.2 billion would run the government for a scant 164 days. Even with this year's infusion, only an additional 18 days of coverage have built into the Fund.

Critics note that while the government is investing $1.3 billion into the Fund, they are still stripping out $1.2 billion in interest. Granted, but better to do this than spend the $1.3 billion plus the $1.2 billion in interest.

Another sign of hope came during the third quarter budget update when Finance Minister Shirley McClellan acknowledged Alberta's annual double digit increases in program spending are unsustainable. McClellan said "I want us to spend in line with the cost of living ... we need to get a handle on some of our costs."

An understatement if ever there was one, with Alberta government spending more than doubling in the last ten years alone. However, the first step in tackling an addiction is to admit you have a problem. Hopefully this admission is a sign that our government has hit rock-bottom with their spending addiction and will now be on the road to recovery.

With any luck more signs of hope will emerge with the release of the 2006-07 Budget on March 22nd.

The government would be well served to continue their recovery by restricting program spending to their own $26.2 billion target and cutting both personal and corporate taxes in the upcoming budget. Taxpayers rightfully have high expectations for tax relief, especially considering the government is saving $1.5 billion annually in interest payments on our now eliminated debt. And, lest we forget, the 2002 tax hike of $641 million.

Now it's up to the government to follow through on the premier's long-standing promise that "the only way taxes are going is down." Then that cork truly can be popped.