NDP keeping a frenetic pace in first year
Busy year in office tackling wide range of issues shows no signs of slowing
Will it take a break?
Maybe a week or two off this summer?
Will Alberta’s new NDP government even consider taking a breather after a year in power?
It was one year ago this week that the newly elected government presented a speech from the throne that promised significant changes.
“It won’t all happen at once,” said the throne speech. “But we will start. We will start today, with these first steps.”
Those were not tentative baby steps but the beginning of what would become a legislative sprint.
The government raised taxes on corporations, banned political donations from corporations, passed a labour bill to protect paid farm workers, announced a $10-billion budgetary deficit and introduced a climate change plan that includes a carbon tax.
Those are just some of the major initiatives that are changing the face of Alberta politics. I have lost count of the minor nips and tucks that are announced on a daily basis via government news releases. The legislative sprint continues. You get out of breath just watching.
Even a relatively quiet week like this one is not so quiet.
On Monday, the government released a damning forensic audit on misspending of public money by a crown corporation.
On Tuesday, it announced a $10-million investment in an agri-food processing centre, kicked off a consultation process on the “safety and dignity of persons with developmental disabilities,” and set up a new system to collect food and basic items for Fort McMurray residents.
On Wednesday, the government said it will hire an outside consultant to review how the province responded to the Fort McMurray wildfire. Oh, and it also announced a massive review of the education curriculum that will take six years to complete and cost $64 million.
That’s just the first three days of one relatively placid week.
There will be more announcements this week including one on the housing needs of Albertans with disabilities.
As well, the government will be busy this summer consulting Albertans on a litany of issues including farm safety, climate change, energy efficiency, grizzly bear protection, a new municipal government act, and the Workers’ Compensation Board.
And then there’s the ongoing review of the government’s agency’s boards and commissions — a review that just might be growing in scope thanks to that forensic audit released on Monday.
The audit revealed a troubling use of public monies by senior officials in the Agriculture Financial Services Corporation that each year oversees hundreds of millions of dollars worth of crop insurance policies as well as small business loans to farmers.
The audit, based on an anonymous tip, uncovered a pattern of misspending from 2011 to 2015 that included $340,000 in questionable travel expenses. Agriculture Minister Oneil Carlier suspended three officials with the crown corporation, dismissed the entire board of directors and forwarded the matter to the RCMP for further investigation.
He also appointed an interim board of directors to dig deeper to determine if there is anything amiss with how the corporation dealt with loans and insurance. And, based on what it finds, we might see similar investigations into other crown corporations.
That’s going to add to the government’s workload — but this is a government that doesn’t seem to mind heavy lifting.
However, Carlier added a comment that cast his release of the audit report in a partisan political light.
“The report’s findings point to a culture of entitlement in the last administration that Albertans firmly rejected in the election,” said Carlier, taking a swipe the Progressive Conservatives and implying this kind of massive misspending was widespread and/ or encouraged by the previous government. But he couldn’t back up that statement with examples.
Perhaps he got carried away reading what is a disturbing report into one Crown corporation and couldn’t resist the urge to unfairly bash all PCs. Maybe he was just tired. Maybe he, and the government, just needs to take a few days off this summer.