Tumbling oil prices continue to plague Alberta's bottom line: fiscal update

EDMONTON -- Tumbling oil prices are forcing Alberta to dip into its reserve fund to keep its $10.5-billion deficit from sliding further into the red. Finance Minister Joe Ceci says in his first-quarter fiscal update that the province had expected the benchmark oil price to average out at US$55 a barrel this year. Instead, it's hovering below $49 a barrel and isn't expected to rise much in the near term. Ceci says the province will use half of its $500-million contingency fund to keep this year's