Photo supplied by the province.

By Curtis Galbraith

Provincial Politics

New provincial budget announced, Highway 40 work included

Feb 27, 2020 | 5:15 PM

The new Alberta budget has been presented in the legislature

In his second speech as Finance Minister, GP-Wapiti MLA Travis Toews talked about the deficit being lower than expected.

“I’m pleased to share that we’re on track to eliminate the deficit. In fact, our deficit is 1.2 billion (dollars) lower than we projected in Budget 2019. This means that Alberta taxpayers will pay 35 million (dollars) less in debt servicing costs.”

The forecast is still calling for a $6.8-billion deficit this year on revenues of $50 billion. Debt is expected to rise to almost $77 billion by the spring of 2021.

The government says in a release that the plan to twin part of Highway 40 is in the Capital Plan.

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So is money for something called Rural Health Initiatives Revitalization Program, meant to upgrade infrastructure around the province, although there are no specifics.

There is a total of $6.9-billion in the 2020-21 Capital Plan.

The government says funding for core services like health and education has been maintained.

Toews says the government wants to reduce the cost of public sector staffing by 2.1 per cent over three years.

“That means that as collective bargaining begins with unions that represent 270,000 public sector workers, there is no money for pay increases. So again, I ask the nurses and the teachers and the dedicated professionals who serve Albertans every day, work with us as partners as we ensure a sustainable future for our public sector and the high-quality services you deliver.”

Public sector jobs will be reduced, most of those cuts coming through attrition.

Toews also promised that the provincial government would do everything it could to make sure pipelines get built.

“Until then, we’ll be looking for increased crude shipments by rail. We’ve offloaded to the private sector all of the crude-by-rail capacity the previous government irresponsibly committed Albertans too and we’re expecting rail shipments to exceed 500,000 barrels-per-day in the near term.”

Toews says the government will increase how much money it loans the Orphan Well Association, something he says will create “hundreds of jobs in regions where they’re badly needed” and mean more sites are reclaimed.

The speech also promised more access for training of Class 1 drivers. There is a shortage of truckers in several industries.

There is also $200-million for something called a New Jobs Blueprint, meant to open up areas like artificial intelligence, high-tech, and aviation.

The opposition New Democrats have slammed the new budget, saying it means cuts for schools and hospitals, more new taxes, and no way to replace the 50,000 jobs lost since the corporate tax cut came in.

The NDP also say it means cuts to municipal transfers and a bracket creep tax increase that will mean people will pay another $100-million in taxes this year.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation also slams bracket creep, which means people go into higher tax brackets when inflation rises, but their buying power does not increase. It is also critical of a 3.1 per cent increase in provincial property taxes.

The CTF does welcome provisions to hold the line on spending and labour costs and welcomes the $1.2-billion decrease in the deficit.

-with files from The Canadian Press