By rdnewsNOW Staff

Provincial Budget

Unions and Opposition react strongly to UCP’s budget

Feb 28, 2023 | 6:30 PM

Reaction to the UCP government’s first budget under new leader Danielle Smith soon followed its public release on Tuesday.

The Opposition NDP says UCP Leader Danielle Smith’s first budget includes fake projections, hidden plans, rising costs, and continued underfunding of what matters most to Albertans.

“Frankly, the best news in Danielle Smith’s first budget is that it could be her last one because very soon, Albertans will have a choice to turn the page,” said Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley.

The party suggests that UCP plans such as the former R-Star royalty program, the Alberta Provincial Police Force and Alberta Pension Plan are hidden, with Notley calling it a “fraudulent budget designed to buy votes ahead of the election and then spring the costs on Albertans after the polls have closed.”

“It hides Danielle Smith’s worst ideas, while sidelining the real priorities of Alberta families,” she said.

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“Albertans don’t have to accept this budget. In just a few short months, you will have a choice and you can choose better.

“I will support families by funding health care and education every year, not just in the weeks leading up to an election. I will work to make sure you can make ends meet all the time, not just in the two or three months before an election. I will build a resilient economy, with more good-paying, industrial jobs every year. And I will never make you pay to take your kids to the doctor.”

Friends of Medicare says the election-style budget doesn’t change the government’s record on health care.

“The UCP government spent the last four years making decisions geared at breaking our public health care system, repeatedly throwing the system into crisis in order to justify an agenda of privatization,” said Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare, “Yet, now that they are headed into a tight election, where health care is the top issue for Albertans, they have tabled a budget claiming to be the champions of fixing our health care.”

“Our public health care system is in an urgent situation that requires urgent action to deal with the widespread short-staffing, worker burnout, and closures impacting our entire province,” said Gallaway. “Yet, today’s budget addresses none of these issues, and instead accelerates this government’s failed privatization agenda, which is only further fragmenting the system and worsening the dire short-staffing situation facing our public health care.”

“More money to recruit doctors and nurses is needed, but you can’t fix health care without our members – lab professionals, respiratory therapists, social workers, pharmacists, addictions counsellors – every other kind of counsellor, therapist and technician sick and injured Albertans rely on,” said Mike Parker, President, Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA).

“HSAA represents highly trained and dedicated health care professionals working in 240 disciplines – you can’t have health care without us. From testing to treatment, it takes a team of health-care specialists to diagnose, care for and help patients recover.

“We expected to see funding for increases in staffing for mental health and addictions, lab workers, diagnostic imaging, as well as therapists, technicians, and technologists.

“We’ve been listening to the Premier and Health Minister praise the contributions of our members, but this budget does not reflect their words. This shows a lack of understanding of how the health-system works, it will not solve the ongoing health-care crisis, and it continues to put Albertan’s lives at risk.”

“The premier’s inaugural budget is a course in cynicism,” says AUPE President Guy Smith (no relation to Danielle Smith). “Premier Smith had the chance to break from three years of neglect and privatization. Instead, she wants Albertans to believe she has righted the ship while sailing us into more of the same.”

“The premier wants Albertans to think this is a good news budget, especially because an election is coming,” says Smith. “But public service staff will still spend more time working short instead of focusing on Albertans and their needs.”

“Contracting services out to the private sector is always disastrous,” says Smith. “Services cost more when they are privatized, full stop, and all those extra costs are profits in the pockets of the CEOs in charge.”

“It’s a pre-election budget designed with a hope that Albertans will forget about the total mismanagement of health care and education over the last four years,” said Lana Payne, Unifor National President. “When hard decisions had to be made, Jason Kenney and Danielle Smith chose severe spending cuts and privatization. This government couldn’t be trusted in the bad times, and they can’t be trusted now because oil happens to be $80-a-barrel.”

“For the second year in a row, the budget is balanced — on the backs of Albertans,” said Public Interest Alberta’s Executive Director Bradley Lafortune. “In it, we’ve got a tale of two Albertas: an Alberta where the already-wealthy thrive, and an Alberta where regular people struggle to put food on the table, gas in their car, and a roof over their head.”

“So many of the so-called highlights of this budget are the UCP covering their tracks before an election,” said Lafortune. “The UCP are proudly proclaiming decisions like increases to AISH and other income supports. Do they expect us to forget they slashed it over the last 3 years? They brag that tuition will be capped at 2 per cent while they let it rise 21 per cent. They say they’re investing in education after removing thousands of educators from classrooms over four years. It’s absurd.”

“The education budget tabled today represents a significant investment in Alberta’s schools, but students should be able to expect that education will be supported all years, not just at election time,” said Jason Schilling, President of the Alberta Teachers Association (ATA).

“The $433 million increase in operational funding is a significant increase that has not been paralleled in many years.

“It’s sad that schools have to wait for an election year when oil prices are high to get the funding they need,” he said. “Our students should always be able to expect appropriate funding independent of political and economic cycles.”

“You can’t provide for your family if you’re counting on winning the lottery every year,” added Kris Sims, Alberta Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “Committing to balanced budgets, debt repayment and saving for a rainy day shows this government is serious about not repeating the mistakes of the past.”

“In 1999 premier Ralph Klein committed to putting 75 per cent of the province’s surplus down on the debt. That rule kept his government from blowing the surplus each year and remaining committed to making Alberta debt free,” said Sims. “Following Klein’s lead is a strong showing that this government is committed to debt repayment as well.”