Without secure and predictable revenue, the province lurches from crisis to crisis as it tries and fails to provide those vital public services that Albertans want and which are the cornerstone of our economy and the bedrock of our communities. Without stable funding, there's no way to plan for our future, so we can ensure that our children and grandchildren have good jobs and good lives.

In this issue of Union magazine, Terry Inigo-Jones looks at how Alberta gets its money - and reveals how the province has become dependent on revenue from gambling and boozing.

Tony Clark explores Alberta's flat tax on personal income and finds that only one other jurisdiction follows the same tax model - Albania! The introduction of the flat tax was a boon to wealthy individuals, but bad news for our bottom line.

In Misplaced Generosity, Regan Boychuk reveals how Tory energy policy has cost Albertans tens of billions of dollars in lost revenue. The government has failed to meet its own targets in the amount of rent it collects from industry almost every year in the last decade.

In Up, Up - and Away!, Inigo-Jones paints a picture of Alberta as a promised land for corporations, where profits soar and taxes fall. In Failing to Save for Our Future, Shannon Phillips looks at Alberta's Heritage Fund, weakened by years of backwards financial planning.

Finally, Winston Gereluk of the Alberta Labour History Institute shows that the fight over resource revenue, and the Alberta government's failure to collect a fair share, is a story that goes back decades.