To say or to be responsible, that is the question

The Government of Alberta released its 2013 budget last week and not surprisingly the province is running a deficit.

It's not surprising, because the government had been hinting at the possibility and now reality for the past few months. Though some might argue it was not too long ago that seeing one of Canada's most resource-rich provinces running a deficit would be somewhat alarming.

But it seems things have come a little unglued financially and the provincial government has found a way to dig itself into a hole but can't afford not to keep spending to digging itself out - as such, we're now faced with a deficit.

Those immediately unaffected by the budget and the cuts that are coming with it might casually brush off a deficit, citing the need to keep spending on important services, such as education, health care, social services and seniors services - not to mention funding buildings and the roads to get there.

Perhaps they might be on to something. With Alberta growing like it is and requiring increasing provincial funding to match that growth, it may very well be prudent to spend according to the times we're in. If those times have somehow forced revenues to be so drastically and unexpectedly cut back that we need to borrow to do the crucial spending, well then, so be it. That is, only if the ones doing the spending and the borrowing are responsible with the peoples' money.

Last time we checked, the government is accountable to the people. As much as politicians like to say they are being responsible, the key to being responsible is to actually be responsible.

We could throw rhetoric back and forth for days about whether a responsible government would have got itself into this mess in the first place. Now is the time for politicians to act on their words, be responsible and get this province back on track and in line with the people they're serving.