July 12th, 2014 was the 10-year anniversary of the day Ralph Klein declared Alberta debt-free and established this province as a responsible fiscal powerhouse. What a proud day for Alberta. My, how times have changed. You may have noticed there is a debt clock ticking its way across Alberta the last couple of weeks. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation went to 25 communities to talk with Albertans about the current level of debt in Alberta.
According to the CTF, our debt passed $10 Billion last week, and it’s growing at a rate of almost $13 million per day. In 2014-15, our overall debt is projected to rise by $4.7 billion.
Let me get this straight. After a decade of high, steady revenue, this government is plunging us back into debt? Amazingly, somehow the PCs still try to claim surplus budgets by fudging the numbers, but the numbers never lie.
My guess is in your own household, you probably don’t shoulder debt lightly. We sure don’t in ours. If your family’s interest payments were getting so high that they started to cut down on the groceries you could buy, that would be a giant warning sign that you should change your spending habits. Well the current government, for some reason, doesn’t think that way.
By 2016, Alberta will be $21 billion in debt, meaning $1.4 billion per year in interest payments. That is $1.4 Billion that won’t be spent on health care, schools and teachers, or flood prevention. That is $1.4 billion that will not be available to accommodate the 100,000 new people who want to move here each year, work here and make Alberta their home. Remember the PC’s election promise to build 50 new schools and modernize another 70? That whole plan was originally supposed to cost $1.2 billion. By 2016, our yearly interest payment will be more than that. Hard to fathom isn’t it?
At election time, the PC’s made promise after promise with your money and borrowed to pay for it. Enter leadership candidate Jim Prentice, the PC’s heir apparent for the Premier’s job. Right after launching his leadership campaign, Mr. Prentice was quick to assure Albertans that he would remain committed to the PC’s debt-financing plan. Now I feel better, don’t you? With our debt increasing at a rate of $541,324 per hour this year, the front-running candidate doesn’t see a problem.
A Wildrose government would put the brakes on this out-of-control spending and work to pay off this nonsensical debt. We will introduce legislation that requires balanced consolidated budgets every year. While we are committed to protecting front-line workers, we must end the era of corporate hand-outs, waste and mismanagement. We have to shine a spotlight on executive pay and perks.
In our households and businesses, we understand the need to take on small amounts of debt from time to time, and governments should be able to do it also when required. But now, Alberta’s famous Heritage Fund is worth less than it was in 1976 when it was first established, and in the three minutes that this article probably took you to read, the debt of the wealthiest province in Canada increased by $27,066.
Ready for a change?
