Parties spar over budget
Wildrose promises to reverse Tory tax hikes, make cuts without affecting services
The Alberta campaign trail turned into a budget battleground on Wednesday as party leaders sparred over spending cuts — and what might be on the chopping block — during the second day of the march toward the May 5 provincial election.
In Calgary, Wildrose Leader Brian Jean said his party would reverse tax hikes introduced in March’s provincial budget and balance Alberta’s books by 2017, without raising taxes or cutting front- line services.
Releasing Wildrose’s priorities, Jean said major efficiencies could be found within the Progressive Conservative government’s $ 48.3- billion spending plan, but he won’t provide specifics until later in the campaign.
“It’s not that big of an axe,” said Jean, the former Conservative MP from Fort McMurray who assumed the party’s helm less than two weeks ago.
“We believe that any Albertan that goes into any government service will see inefficiencies ... We are not going to affect any front- line workers, and I would not suggest it’s an axe. In fact, I would suggest it’s more of a refinement.”
PC Leader Jim Prentice has been adamant since dropping the election writ Tuesday that the Wildrose and NDP — whom he characterizes as the extreme right and left — must tell Albertans the truth about how they would deal with a $ 7- billion revenue shortfall caused by the collapse of oil prices.
PCs campaign spokesman Mike Storeshaw said that with no concrete numbers, the Wildrose proposal doesn’t cut it as a realistic plan.
The Tory budget released at the end of March contained a host of tax changes — including a new health- care levy and high- income tax bracket, along with increased tobacco, liquor and fuel taxes — while holding the line on spending and projecting a record $ 5- billion deficit.
The government anticipates a return to balanced books in the 2017- 18 budget year.
Prentice told mine workers in Grande Cache Wednesday that Wildrose — which he didn’t mention by name — will cut critical services, workers and capital spending on critical infrastructure.
“Make no mistake, front- line jobs — teachers, nurses, public facilities — will be on their cutting block,” said the premier, as he warned Albertans not to bet the future on “extreme ideas or ideologies.”
Speaking later on an Edmonton radio program, the Conservative leader turned his attention toward NDP Leader Rachel Notley and her party’s call for higher corporate taxes.
Prentice said he’s not looking at increasing business taxes in order to protect jobs across Alberta.
“How many jobs will Rachel Notley give up?” Prentice asked. “How many jobs is the NDP going to drive away?”
Jean dismissed Prentice’s rhetoric around Wildrose as “ridiculous,” while Notley called the premier’s talk “desperate.”
“Albertans should not be lectured to about whether their views are extreme or not extreme … Albertans should be respected,” she said in Calgary.
Both the NDP and Liberals have advocated for corporate- tax increases and more aggressive changes to the provincial incometax system as a means to balance the budget.
Notley noted the Tory government ignored a large number of respondents to its own budget survey who called for higher corporate taxes.
“They’re probably a little nervous, so I guess name- calling would be one approach,” she added.
Pollster Marc Henry said Prentice is depicting the other parties as extreme and challenging them to bring out their own fiscal plans because it is easy for his opponents to take aim at the Tories as either protecting big companies, or taxing average Albertans.
“It’s the right strategy, it’s what he has to do,” said Henry. “He is not going to play defence over the first half of the campaign, he’s going to go on offence.”
Liberal Leader David Swann has accused the Tories of betraying the trust of Albertans by not providing a stable budget or proper funding for essential services.
He said Wednesday the province could not feasibly implement the Wildrose’s “unbelievable” plan, when it already faces a huge infrastructure deficit and needs to invest in long- term- care beds for seniors and early education for children.
“Yes, there’s waste in our system, but there’s not $ 7 billion of waste,” Swann said.
“That is in a different world to think that without any revenue stream, we can manage things and have some kind of balanced budget.”
Jean has said Wildrose is aiming to again form the official Opposition, but he believes the party’s low- tax message is in tune with the public.
Among other planks in the Wildrose platform are eliminating mandatory schools fees and taking a “back to basics” approach to education that includes a consistent provincial grading standard with traditional letter or number grades.
On health, the party pledges to implement wait- time guarantees for surgical services and gradually decentralize health- care service delivery. Jean said Alberta Health Services would continue to exist in some form, but decision- making would be returned to the local level.
He is also proposing recall legislation for politicians and a law barring an MLA from crossing the floor to another party without a byelection.