Public sector supporters rallied in the parking lot outside of St. Joseph's Catholic High School on Saturday afternoon against cuts made by the United Conservative Government (Photo: Shaun Penner)

By Shaun Penner

Alberta-wide protest

Public sector supporters rally against budget cuts Saturday

Feb 29, 2020 | 4:55 PM

A contingent of supporters of the province’s public sector bared the blustering, snowy conditions on Saturday afternoon to rally against some of the changes announced in the province’s most recent budget, which was announced on Thursday.

The group was made up of mostly public sector workers, who huddled together to protest against potential cuts to frontline public services as part of a province-wide rally. Other rallies were held in Medicine Hat, Calgary, Red Deer, Lethbridge, Banff, Fort McMurray and Slave Lake.

One of those in attendance in the parking lot outside St Joseph’s Catholic High School was former Alberta Energy Minister and Dunvegan-Central Peace-Notley MLA Marg McCuaig-Boyd, who was there to speak out against cuts that could mean a loss of teachers, doctors or nurses to our area.

“It’s important to me, in rural Alberta, to make sure that we have a healthy education system, a health care system, because that is why people move up here,” said McCuaig-Boyd. “It’s going to be difficult, if it falls apart, to attract families to this region. That concerns me as a northerner.”

Speaking on the changes announced to physician pay rules, which many critics believe could lead to a large number of doctors leaving the province, McCuaig-Boyd says she worries that that could have an affect on attracting doctors to staff the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital, once it finally opens.

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“I live in Fairview, but we’re going to need that hospital for us as well,” said McCuaig-Boyd. “And as an aging Albertan, I’m hopeful that we’re going to have a system that I can access.”

Peter MacKay, a teacher in the Grande Prairie Catholic School Division and the Alberta Teachers Association’s Northwest Division representative, spoke to the crowd about the “mis-information” he perceives from the UCP government, who has actively maintained that funding would remain level for education.

$8.3 billion was allotted in the 2020-21 provincial budget for education, which the UCP says is an increase of $100 million.

But that increase is from, what the government refers to as “a new funding model by using reserves and own source funding.”

“Which basically, is if I told my kid ‘I’m going to give you an allowance, (and) this is how I am going to do it: You can sell some lemonade, you can take all the money out of your piggy bank. There, that’s your increased allowance’,” said MacKay. “It’s a ridiculous way of doing it.”

From the rally, supporters are hoping to create more transparency from the provincial government, and have a more open conversation about how both parties can move forward.

“They’re (the provincial government) not meeting the promises that they made during the election,” said MacKay. “We’ve (the public sector) worked with conservatives before, but they have to be able to work with us and they have to be honest, and they have to keep their promises.”