MLA Report March 9

Hello Chestermere! I don’t know about you but when March hits, I feel the need for a little green in my life. I have lived in Alberta my whole life, and March conjures visions of warmer days and less of the cold, ice, and snow. Wishful thinking I know as it is -12, and my optimism may be my Achilles heel, but I will keep positive and hope for a little more sun in our lives.
Wishful thinking is also what we heard in the Speech from the Throne this week. You have heard Wildrose continually push the Government to reduce spending, or at the very least get this boat steering in the right direction toward debt reduction. With just over 1 billion dollars in interest payments a year, “making life better” as the Government put it seems like a slap in the face. Better for bankers perhaps?
I found myself laughing/crying as the Government tried to explain how it has brought the rate of spending growth down: “thoughtfully and prudently”, to use their words. And yet, there is almost no mention of the fact that the Government is spending far more than it takes in; $10.8 billion more per year. But, they did mention that they will put a stop to outrageous perks like golf course memberships to government executives. After having the books available for almost two years this is the best they can come up with, but I guess we have to be thankful.
What makes me even more frustrated is that supporters of this kind of nonsense think that if Wildrose pushes back we are attacking the middle class and vulnerable Albertans. That couldn’t be further from the truth. This government does not understand that they cannot just provide “free” light bulbs (helpfully installed for you by an Ontario company!) and buy Albertans with a tiny carbon tax rebate in some pockets and think that Albertans are going believe they know how to govern. This government will not be able to buy us! They will spend until there is nothing left to spend, and then leave that debt to our children and grandchildren.
Supposedly the Carbon Tax was not the massive economic shock that we everyday Albertans thought it would be. Who is the Government talking to? The day after the Carbon Tax was implemented, the Minister responsible for Climate Change joked that the province was still standing. Well, if the Government understood the resilience of the people of this province they would acknowledge that we always will survive and thrive, in spite of what the Government throws at us. The NDP will understand the full impact of this resilience when they are voted out in 2019.
I was tentatively optimistic for a couple of sentences in the Throne Speech and that was because I heard the voice of Albertans, and a teeny bit of common sense reflective of what we have heard from you. The first victory for you my friends was hearing the words: “working with parents to modernize the curriculum.” Those words alone are words that YOU get to take credit for because you pushed for authentic participation. It has been at the core of my issue with the curriculum rewrite along with the complete lack of transparency, clarity, and accountability surrounding the interest groups who are informing the rewrite. I have never been so proud of my province and the strength of her people. You do have a voice.
The elimination of certain school fees and transportation costs in the public system is another victory for you! I would love to see the complete elimination of basic instructional fees (a longstanding Wildrose policy), but this 25% is a start. We have a lot of questions surrounding these reductions, and I promise to keep a close eye on it.
We all breathed a shallow breath of relief when the Government resisted calls for ending public funds for private schools. We were cautiously optimistic until this past weekend when the Education Minister said that funding would be reviewed. However, I’m afraid we will see another about-face in how the Government says they will support parental choice in education. Does the Government support parental choice or not? Albertans deserve a straight answer, not these mixed messages. We are getting huge volumes of email on this issue and are doing our best to reply. Your wisdom and feedback are what inspires me every day.
Wildrose leader Brian Jean will be here in Chestermere on Saturday, April 8 for a Town Hall Fundraiser. I would love to see you there and hear your voice as we will be discussing the path forward for Alberta’s conservatives. Please watch this space and our Facebook page for details. As always, we love to hear from you.