Only profitable corporations benefit from UCP policies

By Lethbridge Herald on May 28, 2022.

Shannon Phillips – NDP MLA for Lethbridge West

The spring clouds are finally clearing, with the sun earning pride of place in our bright prairie skies. Families are beginning to enjoy more and more outdoor activities and are admiring the hopeful growth in gardens, while local festivities begin to fill up schedules. Yet some pre-summer events may be cause for hesitation rather than springtime glee, with backyard cookouts and barbecues going off the menu as the cost of living continues to rise without an end in sight. 

While food, energy, and insurance costs continue to soar, I’ve been hearing from many families who are struggling to afford basic living expenses and aren’t receiving the support they need from the UCP government, whose meagre offer of utility rebates has proven to be just another empty promise. In March, the UCP announced they would provide retroactive utility rebates in the scant sum of $150 to offset the expensive bills Albertans were handed during the long winter. The UCP tried to convince us that these rebates would offer real support to Albertans, but the UCP have failed to deliver even on this insufficient rebate, proving that the financial safety and stability of average Albertans doesn’t rank high on their list of priorities.

Through all of this, the UCP refused to accept the our attempts to amend the legislation that would provide real financial relief to Albertans as early as next week, even though they initially claimed their rebates would be made available by April 1, 2022. They now claim that their rebates for natural gas and electricity bills won’t be available until fall and winter of this year – almost a full year after families were forced to pay enormous utility bills. This is why my colleague Kathleen Ganley (our caucus’ Critic for Energy) and I have written to the Auditor General with a plea to investigate the UCPs failure to deliver utility rebates to Albertans. To put it bluntly, while UCP friends and insiders are profiting from high energy prices families, seniors, students, and folks surviving on AISH are struggling more than ever to make ends meet.

And now, as temperatures begin to rise for what is shaping up to be a hot summer, so too will many families’ energy bills. Many of our neighbours are trying to decide between an air-conditioned home or an insured home; meanwhile, energy and insurance companies in Alberta have been raking in soaring profits, a result of the UCP governments’ prioritizing the desires of profitable companies over the needs of average Albertan families. 

The UCP’s removal of rate caps for electricity and insurance have caused utility bills and insurance premiums to skyrocket, alongside property taxes and tuition increases for post-secondary students, eroding Albertans’ purchasing power and their ability to cover monthly costs. 

While average folks are falling behind on bills, utility companies across Alberta are increasing their profits by five-fold, as found by a recent study by the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy. Similarly, auto insurance companies collected a weighty $385 billion in premiums in 2020 alone compared to the previous year when NDP-era premium caps were still in place. 

Once again, it seems that the only people benefiting from UCP policies are large, already- profitable corporations. The average Albertan, meanwhile, suffers as the UCP continues to pile additional costs onto their household budgets. This is while many Albertans are within $200 of meeting their monthly financial obligations, the highest level in Canada to date.

Our provincial government should be doing more to help everyday people in our province during a 31-year high inflation period. 

Although the provincial government can’t control many aspect of inflation or interest rates, it can—and should—protect hard-working and honest folks from the fear of having to choose between a meal on the table and paying an electricity bill. That’s why I’m proud to be part of party that will help keep money in Albertans’ pockets by restoring price protections on utility bills and insurance premiums for cars and homes, and dealing meaningfully with the issues families and seniors are face with. We need a government that is focused on supporting everyday Albertans, fulfilling their promises to families, seniors, and folks on fixed-incomes, rather than protecting the bottom-line of already profitable companies or internal partisan squabbling to decide who gets to be premier this week. 

If you, or anyone you know, needs the assistance of my office, please don’t hesitate to reach out. You can contact us by calling 403-329-4644 or by emailing Lethbridge.West@assembly.ab.ca.