Contract disputes in key sectors threaten Redford’s support
Premier struggles to balance promises with fiscal constraints
Emotional contract disputes with Alberta doctors and teachers are threatening to undo a key segment of political support Premier Alison Redford relied upon to win both the PC leadership and the last provincial election, critics say.
While the government has said changing economic realities are limiting what the province can offer, others suggest the tough stand may be interpreted as the premier backtracking on her promise to improve health care and education.
“I think she is showing that you can’t count on a commitment made by the government, especially if it’s made right before the election,” NDP Leader Brian Mason said. “So I think a group of people who voted for her based on commitments she made will want to rethink how much trust they put in her word.”
Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan agreed Redford must be careful to avoid disappointing those who sent her into the premier’s office. He said the government’s actions in the contract negotiations are being watched carefully.
“Premier Redford won the leadership and the most recent election by building a new political coalition — one that is dramatically different than the traditional conservative coalition,” McGowan said. “If she starts to govern as if nothing has changed, she will face problems politically.”
As political scientists note, Redford came to power, in part, based on direct appeals to people who deliver and depend on core services. Promises she made included restoring education funding cut by the Stelmach government, establishing threeyear funding commitments for school boards, building 50 new schools and renovating 70 more, and establishing 140 family care clinics.
While the government has accomplished or made progress on those items, providing more money to workers is a different story. The projected deficit for this year’s provincial budget has ballooned to $3 billion.
The dispute with the doctors, in particular, has become a cause for concern in recent weeks after the government announced it was moving ahead with a compensation package after 20 months of failed negotiations with the Alberta Medical Association.
The tactic prompted a duelling ad campaign, with the AMA accusing the province of deception and intimidation, and the government suggesting the association is unreasonable.
The $463-million plan included a 2.5-per-cent increase and cost-of-living increases over three years, but also reduced funding for some specialties. Doctors said it would mean $210 million in cuts over the next five years.
As for teachers, contract talks have not yet reached the same level of acrimony. However, the Alberta Teachers’ Association left the table last week, saying talks were at an impasse.
The ATA has appealed directly to Redford to approve their offer of a four-year deal that would freeze salary grids this year and in 2013-14, then limit increases to one per cent in 2014-15 and three per cent in 2015-16. It would also place limits on teacher workload. Redford has said the teachers must negotiate with Education Minister Jeff Johnson.
The premier said her relationships with doctors and teachers remain strong despite tense negotiations.
“I’m pretty optimistic we’re going to be able to get through this, that this is part of the toing and fro-ing of what happens at this point in time in the contracts,” she said.
Well, she certainly has a sense of humour.
In a segment taped for CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes that will air next week, Premier Alison Redford pokes fun at herself and the stereotypical view of Alberta as a haven for energy corporations bent on climate destruction.
“Christmas is my favourite time of year in Alberta,” says Redford, who appears with a glass of scotch.
“Most people spend their time with family and friends. I choose to spend the bulk of my time the way I do the rest of the year, having a scotch with my friends from the oil and gas industry, talking about how to relax environmental regulations.
“Looks like another mild winter. You’re welcome, Canada.”
Redford’s appearance is one of a series of Christmas greetings from premiers including Saskatchewan’s Brad Wall, who deadpans that people in Saskatchewan, “like the people in Toronto, have a Christmas wish that one day we’ll have a professional hockey team.”
Redford and Wall aren’t the only politicians out to prove they’ve got a funny bone this week.
“Looks like another mild winter. You’re welcome, Canada.” PREMIER ALISON REDFORD, IN A SATIRE FOR CBC’S THIS HOUR HAS 22 MINUTES
In the closing moments of the fall sitting of the Alberta legislature on Thursday, Wildrose MLA Jeff Wilson poked fun at government backbenchers for asking inane puffball questions of government ministers by tossing a puffball of his own. “Why are you so awesome?” he asked in turn to Energy Minister Ken Hughes and Transportation Minister Ric McIver.
Of the follicly blessed Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk, he asked, “why is your hair so awesome?”
It was a rare moment of silliness in a session notorious for its anger and bitterness.
But for all the personal attacks and headline-grabbing scandals, the legislature did manage to deal with 10 pieces of legislation this fall. And, by “deal with” I mean the government used its majority to pass — at times, ram through — its legislative agenda despite the protests and amendments raised by the opposition.
For example, the government passed the Workers’ Compensation Amendment Act designed to improve coverage for first responders such as firefighters suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Some critics said the legislation amounts to a form of queue-jumping, while other critics wanted the act to cover jail guards and paramedics.
The government didn’t agree with any of the critics and passed the law as is.
The Whistleblower Protection Act is designed to protect government employees who report legal violations that threaten the public good or that involve a gross mismanagement of public funds.
It’s an act with its heart in the right place, but the devil is in the details. Whistleblowers might yet find themselves bogged down in a bureaucratic process where government departments end up investigating themselves.
The Election Accountability Amendment Act is supposed to “increase democracy and enhance accountability in the electoral process” by, among other things, ensuring the province’s chief electoral officer publicizes the results of his investigations into illegal campaign contributions.
However, the bill does nothing to overhaul the province’s finance rules to bring them in line with other jurisdictions that have lower limits on fundraising and spending during election campaigns.
Both the Wildrose and the NDP, for example, think the province should follow the example set at the federal level and outlaw contributions from corporations and unions. And the act would do nothing to prevent another “Katz affair” in which a single source could contribute several hundred thousand dollars to a political party.
By talking about increasing democracy but not really doing much to follow through, the act has its heart in the right place but it’s two sizes too small.
Perhaps the most contentious piece of legislation was the Responsible Energy Development Act that literally caused MLAs to lose sleep during an all-night debate. The act is designed to streamline oil and gas development by combining the regulatory functions of the Alberta Energy Conservation Board, Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development into a new single regulator.
The government says the bill is necessary to cut through red tape, and industry groups such as the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers welcome the change. The Wildrose Opposition says it’s an affront to landowner rights.
Other critics say the bill would simply make the regulatory system even more of a rubber stamp for industry. As with most pieces of legislation, we’ll have to see how it plays out.
We’ll also have to see if the opposition can maintain the level of intensity we saw this fall. Giving them a boost, no doubt, will be the government’s fiscal dilemma.
The province is headed to a $3-billion deficit this year and the government’s savings account, the Sustainability Fund, which was worth $17 billion in 2009, will be whittled down to less than $4 billion at the end of this fiscal year. At this rate, there’ll be nothing left in 12 months.
Never mind “tobacco-gate” or the Katz affair, the biggest problem facing the government is its own self-created fiscal crisis.
Redford might have a sense of humour but this is one issue that nobody will be able to laugh about.