Notley’s NDP eager to spend more money
Finding any upside in the dreadful recession this province has lived through, which began with the collapse of energy prices three years ago, isn’t easy.
But tromp about in bare feet long enough through all those seemingly endless stacks of hay, and eventually, you’ll feel the sharp prick of that rare needle in your soft sole.
Because if we hadn’t seen those provincial royalty and tax revenues take such a big hit at the start of this current government’s mandate, then rest assured by now we would have in place an Alberta-wide, taxpayer-funded extensive and equally expensive day-care system.
The NDP didn’t campaign on the infamous carbon tax, but it did mention cheap day care for all, and were it not for the fact we’ve been spending about $10 billion more a year than we bring in recently, there’s little doubt such a government-funded program would be reality.
We’ve taken small bites of this particular cherry pie already, with various pilot projects across the province — many funded by temporary federal grants — offering $25-a-day programs for parents. This isn’t even means tested: make a million dollars or more a year and you can still get cheap child care.
Ah, but still, that Holy Grail of universal access in every corner of Alberta remains tantalizingly out of reach.
“We will be in a position to implement a maximum of $25-a-day child care as the province’s finances permit,” is how the premier explained it. That was two years ago, and as those so-called economic green shoots haven’t exactly blossomed into a field of waving wheat, the NDP is still chaffing at the bit.
Such are the real politics of being so far down a dark financial hole, and thereby needing to show at least a smidgen of restraint if the current government even wants to bother with the expense of printing re-election signs.
Belatedly, Rachel Notley and her band of decent followers — in many respects, these are the nicest people (I didn’t say smartest) we’ve had in government in many a decade — ran smack bang into reality. Yes, as energy prices go, so does Alberta and so do its politicians.
It has been a tough lesson, but given Notley’s recent metamorphosis into the second coming of oilman J. Paul Getty, there’s little doubt that message sank in.
So, the 25-bucks-a-day tab to drop little Johnnie off each morning isn’t with us quite yet. But we do have these various pilot projects chugging along, so heaven help whichever politician has to tell those parents the schemes have run their allotted course. Don’t be shocked if they’re renewed and expanded.
That’s the problem with governmental overreach. We lather on more and more programs, all of which seem eminently noble and fair, but once instigated, they’re virtually impossible to end. It’s fine if we could actually pay for them, but increasingly, we can’t, and instead, just kick the can down the road by borrowing oodles more dough.
Perhaps subsidized day care for all is a good use of tax revenue — certainly we’ve wasted it on worse. But, just for a moment, imagine if such a proposition was actually put to a real test.
So, if indeed it is worth doing, then how about a government being asked to find the new funding from another current program, one that subsequently gets the boot.
See, that’s the rub. As predicted in this space less than two weeks ago, we are now meandering down the path of subsidizing rural bus service following Greyhound’s decision to close most western Canadian routes.
So is cheap day care more important than having a bus pull up every few hours in Hanna? I’ve no clue.
But it would be nice to actually see such a question asked some day. You can have one or the other, but not the pair.
Ah, dream on. Nope, instead, we’ll wait until some temporary, unsustainable jump in energy prices, then give everyone both.
You can have one or the other, but not the pair.