NDP budget passes, but opposition bids to cut spending rejected

More than six months after coming into power, the NDP government has passed its first budget.

MLAs voted 41-27 to pass third reading of Bill 9, the Appropriation Act, 2015, which authorizes government spending for the legislature and all ministries this fiscal year.

The $49.9-billion budget was introduced Oct. 27.

Government House Leader Brian Mason told the legislature the Appropriations Act lays out the government’s fiscal priorities and its plan to stabilize core services, outline a path to balanced budgets, create jobs and diversify the economy.

“It deals with the priorities Albertans told us,” he said. “It supports families at a time when they need that the most. It sets out a plan that we need now to to ensure our province gets back to a path of prosperity for the future.”

The budget projected a $6.1-billion deficit — the largest in Alberta history — and forecast the province won’t be in the black until 2019-20.

The opposition parties have been highly critical of the plan and the government’s decision to borrow more than $6 billion a year for the next three years for infrastructure.

“It certainly took a long time to get here and, frankly, we’re disappointed,” Wildrose Leader Brian Jean told the legislature before the vote. “There’s no plan in place that’s realistic. The numbers are outrageously highly forecast for revenues.”

Wildrose House Leader Nathan Cooper told the legislature the projected debt level approved in the budget will boost the cost of debt servicing to $1.9 billion by 2018.

“It puts Alberta on a path to danger,” he said.

The official opposition expressed dismay the NDP government rejected all amendments to reduce spending.

“We did our best to put forward some common sense amendments to the budget — things like at least stopping increases for ministers’ overhead administration budgets,” Wildrose finance critic Derek Fildebrandt said.

“Unfortunately the government stood up and voted against every single reasonable amendment to get even some symbolic spending under control. We weren’t talking about cutting a single service here or a single capital dollar. We’re talking about cutting the budgets for political ministers and the government voted against it at every single turn.”

In the legislature, after the vote, Finance Minister Joe Ceci made no apologies for voting down the amendments.

“The proposals put forward in several estimates committees were not reasonable in our view, so we refused them,” he said matter-of-factly.