Premier excited over Monday’s ‘historic’ throne speech
Albertans will hear a speech from the throne Monday that for the first time in more than four decades won’t be penned by the Progressive Conservatives.
NDP Premier Rachel Notley said Friday she had personally reviewed the speech three times and described it as “historic.”
“It’s going to be a very optimistic, forward-looking throne speech,” she told reporters in Edmonton. “I think it’s quite inspirational and it’s going to speak to the values that we talked to Albertans about throughout the campaign.”
The speech, to be read by newly installed Lt.-Gov. Lois Mitchell, will kick off a shortened legislative session made necessary after the Tories called a May 5 election before passing their provincial budget. The election led to an upset victory for the NDP, which now has 53 seats, compared with 21 for the Wildrose, nine seats for the PCs, one each for the Liberals and Alberta Party, along with one Independent MLA.
Government house leader Brian Mason said several pieces of legislation will be tabled, but the most important is an interim supply bill that will enable the government “to keep writing cheques.”
But Bill 1 — the first bill introduced by a new government in 44 years — “will fulfil a small part of the government’s platform for democratic reform,” said Mason, who also serves as the infrastructure and transportation minister.
Many Albertans expect the bill will ban corporate and union political contributions, but Mason would not confirm it.
He noted other jurisdictions have limits on spending and third-party advertising, but his government hasn’t made any decisions yet.
Tory Leader Ric McIver is opposed to eliminating union and corporate donations, saying it would create less transparency than the current disclosure system.
“Those people running unions and corporations who want to donate to a government will have to find other avenues to do it, rather than do it directly,” McIver said.
Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark said he’s expecting to see democratic reform from the Notley government, with a move to ban union and corporate donations entirely.
Liberal interim leader David Swann wants the NDP to live up to its promise to ban corporate and union donations, and limit the size of total contributions.
Derek Fildebrandt, Wildrose finance critic, said Friday that he is worried about the mixed signals the NDP government is sending about the state of the province’s finances.
“We believe full information must be released on the true state of Alberta finances, including the revenue shortfall, Alberta’s total debt and the true size and scope of the budget,” he said.
“Simply put, we cannot sign off on billions of dollars of new spending without knowing how much red ink the government will be running up in the process.”