Alberta’s premier sees no change in fiscal or ‘fair deal’ plans in 2020
Kenney says he’s not fomenting Wexit, just channeling frustration
EDMONTON – As 2020 nears, there’s no sign that Premier Jason Kenney will change his tough stance on finances and spending cuts, or his “fair deal” strategy for Alberta’s role in the nation.
In a year-end interview, the premier insisted he’s not fomenting Wexit, just channeling frustration in a positive direction.
And he insisted his cuts do not hurt the overall economy or lower provincial GDP.
Kenney argued that UCP restraint “amounts to one-third of a per cent of GDP, spread over four years . . .
“That’s out of a $340-billion provincial GDP. That’s out of a $55-billion provincial budget. So it is a fraction of a per cent of GDP.
“If we don’t start with fiscal responsibility now when there is a global economic downturn — as there will be for some time — we will be completely incapable of coping with it.”
He said past governments have told themselves: ‘It’s not the right time now. There’s an election coming up. The unions are giving us a hard time. Things aren’t going super well in the economy. There’s a price downturn.’
“So we keep kicking the can down the road, and if we do that, as the MacKinnon panel (on Alberta’s finances) said, we will end up with deep, devastating cuts.
“And, look, I’m not going to be the leader that does that.”
Kenney acknowledged that “there is a continued deep anxiety about the economic future here,” and that voters expected quicker results from his UCP government.
“I think there were hopes that our coming to office in May would suddenly, instantly, magically, somehow turn everything around,” he said.
Although he feels there are signs of hope for 2020, “we’re in our fifth year of economic stagnation, and it’s in this time that we have to bring in fiscal responsibility . . .
“At our very first caucus meeting, I told our UCP team to expect that we were going to have, through much of this government, a rough ride, a lot of highly organized opposition, a lot of loud voices defending a broken status quo. It would have an impact on polling numbers.”
Recent polls have proven him correct. The UCP has fallen sharply in approval. Marc Henry’s ThinkHQ poll puts the government’s rating at 44 per cent, down 10 per cent from the fall.
Kenney said he’s working harder to attract investment than any previous premier, most recently in London with his principal adviser on investment, David Knight Legg.
Kenney touted the Telus decision to invest $16 billion in high-speed infrastructure in the province.
The NDP claims this was announced before, but communications from the company indicate it’s “incremental” to an earlier announcement of $40 billion for national broadband work.
“The $16 billion for 5G and high-speed (comes) with lots of cutting-edge applications and areas like agri-tech and health care,” the premier said.
“But we’re also working on stuff in the aviation sector, financial services, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, agri-food and agri-processing, and, of course, IT, much of which is happening organically anyway.
“So yes, I’m optimistic we’re going to see some of those in 2020.”
Kenney continues to believe that his overall corporate tax cut, with a second one-point drop coming Jan. 1, is the best way to attract investment.