Funding cuts will make life harder for Albertans
When a government curtails funding for education, it is a sure sign that they have lost their minds. Anyone with a sound intellect understands that progress in any society/nation depends on the intrinsic power of its erudite minds. Thought precedes action, therefore we need a thoughtful, skilled populace whose decision-making capabilities are underpinned by authentic knowledge.
The cutbacks to school divisions are disastrous. Good-quality early education provides our children with a strong foundation to build their lives and future. Investing in our children now will save money and disaster later. “Better build schoolrooms for the boy than cells and gibbets for the man.” (Eliza Cook)
Making secondary education more expensive is downright myopic. It will impede the affordability of higher education for some of the brilliant youth. Kenney did not spare the helpless, frail population of our parents. He plans drastic cutbacks in the frontline workers and nurses in long-term care facilities that will decline the already inadequate care of our silent, helpless parents. This government is morally bankrupt in forgetting that our wonderful nation, Canada, was built by their sacrifices and sweat and blood.
One of the most challenging issues of human life is health. With layoffs, we are about to suffer longer wait times for appointments, procedures, surgeries, inadequate care and more privatization. According to Travis Toews, the finance minister, “... to deliver more efficient, improved frontline care ...” Is he a magician who can magically improve performance by cutting back workforce? Ironically, they call it reform!
Even the lives of vulnerable, physically and mentally challenged Albertans have become more arduous because the programs that help them cope with life are cancelled by our insensitive government. Kenney on spending cuts (Dec. 2): “... the citizens are making this (cuts) out to be the arrival of apocalypse...”
He is reducing spending by 2.8 per cent over four years, $1.3 billion, to be exact. Mr.Kenney, do the math. How many thousands of Albertans are going to lose their jobs? For all those hard-working workers, who have families to support, getting laid off is apocalyptic.
Why can’t supposedly brilliant politicians of the Alberta government display some creativity in finding a less invasive, less painful method to balance the budget? Have they heard of “provincial sales tax”? “A nation flourishes splendidly when power and wisdom coexist in rulers. A nation is devastated when those in power have no wisdom.” (unknown). Ramma Sawhney
Lethbridge