Notley is looking for EI, infrastructure cash from Ottawa to stimulate economy
Premier Rachel Notley says Alberta isn’t asking Ottawa for an additional direct cash injection in next Tuesday’s federal budget but is looking for concrete action from the Trudeau government, including $1 billion in infrastructure spending.
Earlier this week Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall called on the federal Liberal government to provide a $570-million payment to his province, which he suggested was the amount Saskatchewan taxpayers had paid into equalization.
Notley said her NDP government’s focus is on cash to help stimulate the economy and meet the province’s infrastructure deficit, as well as on reforms to the federal employment insurance program to give out-of-work Albertans greater access to benefits.
“What we want to see is at least a billion dollars in infrastructure investment and what we have said is we need to see significant changes in our EI system, which actually have a pretty large price tag attached to them as well,” she told reporters at McDougall Centre. “Those are the first items we have identified.”
Alberta is already slated to receive a $250-million stabilization grant from Ottawa.
Both Alberta and Saskatchewan — “have” provinces that do not receive equalization — have been hit by the downturn in oil prices, though the impact has been greater in Alberta, which is expecting two consecutive years of recession.
Alberta’s $1-billion request is on top of $700 million earmarked for the province but unspent in the old Building Canada Fund created by the Conservative government.
Federal Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi, who hails from Edmonton, said last month he is hop- ing infrastructure funding of up to $1 billion can be distributed to Alberta quickly this year.
Notley was in Calgary with Finance Minister Joe Ceci as hosts of a roundtable for businesses and non-profits ahead of the NDP government’s own budget, which will be released April 14.
Ceci has already said the government could see a shortfall of more than $10 billion in the budget.
The premier told reporters the government is looking to rein in spending, with a targeted rate of increase of the rate of inflation plus population growth.
The provincial Finance Ministry said that would allow for a 2.8 per cent spending hike, based on population growth of 1.2 per cent and a 2016 inflation rate of 1.6 per cent.
“There are decisions that will be difficult ... not everyone is going to get a yes on everything,” said Notley.
The price of oil has recently been on the rise, with WTI hitting US$41.20 — the highest level since December — before closing at US$39.44.
Ceci joked that he would “prob- ably sleep better” as a result of that.
“We’re cautiously optimistic that oil is going to find a higher and higher level and that will be a significant help to our debt and deficit position,” he said.
Earlier Friday, Wildrose Leader Brian Jean said in a news release that he had sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urging him not to proceed with a ban on oil tanker traffic along the northern coast of British Columbia.
The ban, promised by the Liberals in the last federal election, would be the final nail in the coffin of the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline for Alberta oilsands crude.
Pipelines to coastal waters are seen as key to Alberta energy producers capturing the world price but have been stymied by environmental and political opposition.
“Albertans are frustrated and tired of having regulatory hurdles or bans stop the development and progress of our energy sector,” Jean said in a news release calling on Notley to make the same demand of Trudeau.