Employers and critics want details on jobs plan
Small business group prefers tax cut to cash grants to stimulate economy
Opposition critics blasted the NDP’s job creation program in the legislature Monday, complaining about the lack of details available about the application criteria and the structure of the $ 178- million initiative.
Wildrose Leader Brian Jean led the attack during question period with accusations the Notley government is creating a financial boondoggle that’s not likely to create any jobs.
He slammed Jobs Minister Lori Sigurdson for staging a news conference in an industrial park outside Edmonton on Monday that provided no new information about the program.
“Jobs are being lost right now in Alberta,” he told MLAs. “It’s absurd that the government is spending time and resources on photo ops for a program that won’t be available until far after the next budget that you bring forward.”
Jean noted the minister said only that further details on the program, application requirements and procedures will be made available at a later date.
“When you look at all the unanswered questions — and there are many — and all the opportunities for waste and fraud and abuse, frankly, it’s scary,” he said.
Premier Rachel Notley fired back that all the official Opposition wants to do is axe jobs. She insisted the NDP plan has been “fairly clearly laid out.
“Our government is committed to doing a number of different things to create jobs, to incent jobs, to work with our partners in the business community to kick- start this economy to be the shock absorbers when the economy slows down,” she said.
Notley noted 71 per cent of Albertans polled on the Oct. 27 budget approve of the NDP’s job- creation plan.
But interim PC Leader Ric Mc- Iver suggested the program will only create poverty- line employment. He asked the jobs minister what she’s doing for unemployed oilpatch workers.
Sigurdson said the NDP is investing $ 178 million in the job- incentive program over two years and it’s up to employers to set the level of salaries.
But McIver said the minister “doesn’t know her own programs” and suggested job losses have piled up since the NDP government was elected May 5.
Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark called on the government to scrap the “poorly thought- out” plan in favour of an investor tax credit program.
Provincial businesses have also been concerned about the lack of detail around the program to date, said Amber Ruddy of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
She said businesses were disappointed no new information was released Monday.
When you look at all the unanswered questions — and there are many — and all the opportunities for waste and fraud and abuse, frankly, it’s scary. BRIAN JEAN, Wild rose leader
“It seemed like a rehash of everything that had already been in the budget,” Ruddy said. “Businesses want to know how they can apply, who is eligible, and they need those details right away. The program is opening Jan. 1.”
According to the CFIB’s monthly business barometer, only 14 per cent of business surveyed are planning to hire new staff, but 26 per cent are contemplating layoffs, she said.
The CFIB has suggested that rather than offering a $ 5,000 grant to businesses in a bid to create up to 27,000 jobs, the NDP could have stimulated the economy more by reducing the three per cent tax on small businesses.