When economists say Alberta has been Canada’s key engine of growth in recent decades, that’s really what they mean. Without Alberta’s energy wealth, this country would have been a fiscal basket case long ago. 
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So just how much money has flowed out of Alberta to Ottawa? A lot. Between 2000 and 2014, on a net basis, Alberta’s individual and corporate taxpayers shipped an estimated $200 billion-plus to the federal government. That’s what left the province, less what the feds reinvested here. At the height of the boom years that number approached $20 Billion annually - That is to say $20 Billion annually - out of Alberta and into all other provinces.
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To put that lofty figure in perspective, the money lost is nearly 12 times the value of the $17.4 billion Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund. No other province — including Ontario, with three times Alberta’s population — even comes close to matching this province’s contribution to the federation.
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Gary Lamphier 

Edmonton Journal