Notley reflects on year, lays out plans for economic recovery
A bundle of troubles no Alberta leaders have ever faced
NDP Opposition Leader Rachel Notley says that of all the enormous challenges Alberta will face in 2021, the biggest will be rebuilding the economy.
“It's critical because we are going to come out of this pandemic,” she said in a year-end interview.
“Eventually, that will happen. And we will be faced with challenges as a province in terms of what our economy looks like going forward.”
Even the UCP might agree with her (so far).
Unemployment, a stagnant oil and gas industry, mental health challenges, the COVID-19 disease itself — they all add up to a bundle of troubles no Alberta leaders have ever faced before.
The NDP has embarked on a plan to take public advice, even from the conservative Fraser Institute, and create an overall economic development program.
“It's a very exciting project we embarked upon earlier in the fall before this second wave (of the pandemic) took most of our attention,” Notley says.
The NDP is gathering views on specific economic areas through the portal Albertasfuture.ca.
“We're asking people to participate. We want the Fraser Institute to come to the table and give us a paper and tell us what they think, and have all Albertans have the chance to engage, so we can really have a thoughtful conversation about our future.
“We're inviting people from across the political spectrum to participate in this process, because we absolutely must have this kind of collective conversation.
“If you are a member of the UCP, if you are a member of UCP caucus, even if you work for the UCP, by all means, log on and offer up your opinions.”
Take up on that front is likely to be modest. The NDP isn't about to abandon its principles in the name of harmony.
“Recovery has to be measured in jobs, not necessarily GDP,” says Notley. “It cannot be premised on a race to the bottom as a primary technique for generating economic activity.
“It also has to be a recovery that includes all Albertans, women, people of colour, and people who have been marginalized in the past.
“It has to recognize the role that the public sector needs to play because we are a small economy in a global market.
“We need to be as strategic as we can and there are ways in which the public sector can help us do that.”
The UCP is bent on reducing the size of the public service over time. There are certainly fiscal arguments for this, but it's also an article of UCP faith that public service doesn't provide economic value.
In a November economic update, the UCP said as much in stark terms: “While the public sector plays a key role in delivering public services, it does not create jobs or generate wealth.
“Rather, public sector activities and spending are paid by withdrawing money from the economy, through taxes, or by taking money from future taxpayers by borrowing for deficit financing.”
The NDP exploded at that, arguing that public service wages are circulated through spending, while effective programs and policies generate enormous wealth.
So, the NCP and UCP are not about to unite on economic strategy.
There is room for agreement on details, however.
Notley notes, for instance, that there is agreement on petrochemical development, at least in principle.
But she's very concerned about the budget coming next year.
“Imposing an austerity budget in the middle of a fledgling recovery will go against what Albertans need,” she says.
“We will make that argument in the hope they take up our position. But we won't walk away from that argument in the interest of camaraderie.”
Notley sounds far less equable when she talks about Premier Jason Kenney's leadership during the pandemic.
“I would argue that we did not see the best leadership from our premier during what has been a historically significant crisis in this province.”
Measures to control COVID-19 “really do require buy-in from each and every citizen. And so you need them to understand why they're being asked to do what they have to do.
“What we needed was a premier who was going to gather all the facts, perhaps distance himself a little bit from his own party in his approach to things, and from the ideology and partisanship that is attached to it.
“I feel that we didn't see the kind of open, responsible, accountable leadership that Albertans wanted or needed during the year.”
The New Year may be brighter than 2020, but it will not bring political harmony to Alberta.