NDP’s economic efforts are working

Like many conservatives, Tom Burns (Where does blame fall?” — July 17 letter to the editor) insists on viewing the world through dung-tinted glasses.

Alberta’s economy is leading the nation in growth. Unemployment is down, wages and profits are up, the oil industry is well on the way to recovery, renewable energy is booming and companies are investing in Alberta. This, to Mr. Burns, is “economic devastation.”

Albertans have the lowest taxes in Canada and the lowest provincial debt (as a proportion of GDP). The Conservatives would have addressed the economic downturn by slashing and burning, cutting programs that support Albertans, and laying off teachers, nurses and other public servants. They would have pushed the unemployment rate into the teens. The NDP continued to invest in Albertans and support industry, building roads, schools and other infrastructure and maintaining services when people were most in need.

It is well established in economics that it makes sense, especially in times of recession, for governments to take on reasonable debt to support the economy and invest in future growth. Has Mr. Burns never taken out a mortgage so he could have a house to live in?

Our NDP government has acted prudently to see Alberta through the downturn, and it has worked. The debt is modest and can be paid down as revenues grow with the recovery. (Or, we could just tax ourselves a little more, as other provinces do, and the deficit — already shrinking — would soon disappear.)

All Kenney’s Conservatives have to offer, just like Trump and Ford, is fear and division, and a promise to undo everything the previous government did. That’s not a vision, and it’s nothing to be optimistic about.

Tony Pargeter

Lethbridge