Smarter options for Alberta

Premier Alison Redford and Finance Minister Doug Horner have no right to claim their choices in the current budget were “responsible” or even necessary.

Our economy is not in trouble. At 3.5-per-cent growth last year, we were the best in Canada, and our 4.5-per-cent unemployment rate was the lowest.

There are smarter, more responsible measures this government could have taken to reduce the deficit. There is lots of money in Alberta’s economy to fund quality services, if only our leaders had the courage to restore a progressive tax system and charge the royalty rates their own expert panel recommended, ones still competitive with those in Alaska and Norway.

All the economic experts counselled the government not to fund essential operations with volatile resource revenues. Resource revenues should be saved, as the Norwegians have done. Why didn’t the premier listen?

Alberta’s flat tax obviously does not raise enough revenue to fund necessary services for our rapidly growing population. A progressive tax system would.

It is unfair for the province to cut services for students, the old, the poor and the vulnerable rather than charge wealthier Albertans and corporations taxes comparable to those they would pay in the rest of Canada.

There is no need to borrow for essential infrastructure projects like schools, hospitals and long-term care if the province collects adequate taxes. A responsible government would not choose to arbitrarily cut funding for essential services while we face huge population growth.

Aileen Tayler, Edmonton