Photo by Curtis Galbraith

By Curtis Galbraith

Year-End Interview

Year-End Interview: Travis Toews

Dec 31, 2019 | 11:00 AM

It has been a “steep learning curve” says the MLA for GP-Wapiti after being elected in April’s provincial election.

Travis Toews was named Alberta Finance Minister in Premier Jason Kenney’s first cabinet.

He says the criticism that comes after cuts were made “comes with the territory.”

“The reality is we committed to Albertans that we were going to deliver responsible fiscal management on behalf of the province. (For the) last six or seven months, we’ve been very busy developing a four-year fiscal plan that, in fact, will accomplish that, will bring this province to a balanced budget within our first term.”

Toews says the recent budget is not an austerity budget, but it is one of restraint. He adds he thinks it is what he refers to as “a defeceable budget” while acknowledging it will mean sacrifices for Albertans.

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The UCP government has also repealed the provincial carbon tax and cut corporate tax rates.

Toews thinks improving the business environment will “attract investment and create jobs.”

“We’re certainly seeing some green shoots there. We know that’s going to take time. Our Job Creation Tax Cut, the first point of that reduction took place July 1 of this year, so our corporate tax rate went from 12 to 11 per cent. We’re still a point higher at this point than we were at the time the previous government took office.”

The corporate tax rate is set to drop to eight per cent by 2023.

Toews says he is confident things like tax cuts for corporations, progress on pipelines and changing regulations will bring investment back to Alberta.

He says some companies have already made announcements.

“Telus made an announcement that they were going to move forward with a $16-billion investment in the province. We certainly view that as positive. We’ve seen some additional energy investments recently. We’re hopeful that we’re going to be rounding the corner on the economy.”

Toews says he is hoping 2019 was Alberta’s toughest year economically. He says the government is projecting GDP growth in 2020, although energy prices will stay where they have been. That growth prediction is based on observations and projections from the finance department.

Farmers and ranchers in the Peace had a very difficult year, with a late spring, wet summer and fall, and early snow causing repeated interruptions and quality issues for field crops and hay.

Toews says he can’t remember a year where this much crop has stayed in the field all winter.

“That creates a lot of hardship for agricultural producers. On top of that, of course, there’s been global market access challenges with canola, particularly. That’s on-going. There’s work to be done there. We’re working with our federal government on the global market access side to encourage them to put every resource at improving and enhancing global market access for our agricultural producers.”

Toews adds we “can’t rest” unless canola exports to China resume, but he is pleased beef and pork sales to China are going again.

We asked him if his optimism about the economy extends to farming and ranching.

“Well, you know, I can’t predict the weather, that’s for sure. I’m certainly hopeful that we’ll have a good spring, an early spring, and hopefully, the crop that’s been left out is going to winter OK and that a fair amount of it will be left in the spring to harvest. We’re due for a good weather season. Hopefully, 2020 will bring that.”

Toews thinks the fundamentals in agriculture are strong, both when it comes to markets and the ability of Canadian farmers to “compete very effectively globally if given the tools.”