Danielle Smith focused on bizarre ideas, not responsible gov’t

By Lethbridge Herald on November 26, 2022.

AT THE LEGISLATURE
Shannon Phillips – NDP MLA for Lethbridge West

By many accounts, Alberta should be doing well: we are beginning to emerge from the pandemic, resource prices are high and our provincial treasury has the resources to help working families and seniors with the spike in the cost of living. Our government is remarkably well-positioned to make sure that this winter is fair and safe for everyone, and that we can begin to rebuild our healthcare system. In Lethbridge, this is particularly urgent given thousands of us no longer have a family doctor.

Recent announcements by Danielle Smith are an attempt to reverse the many bad UCP decisions to raise our income taxes, jack our user fees, and reduce our benefits. Some modest relief for seniors and those with children – timed exclusively around the election next year – are a back-of-the-napkin, frantic approach to undo some of the damage. Making sure inflation doesn’t raise our income tax or reduce our benefits was a UCP hit to all of our pocketbooks, by next year, they say they will take action on it. Many Albertans do not trust the UCP to take these actions to protect them from inflation. 

Danielle Smith’s actions so far betray a chaotic direction from the Premier’s Office rather than a careful, practical plan that will cap increases in car insurance, cap electricity rates or invest our budget surplus to pay for services in the future. 

Rather than focus on fiscally responsible, pragmatic government, Danielle Smith is focused on extreme and downright bizarre ideas that have nothing to do with the real challenges faced by folks in southern Alberta. While families are worried about groceries and bills, Danielle Smith is writing unconstitutional legislation that will apparently allow Alberta to ignore federal laws, including the Criminal Code. This silly idea – what Smith calls the “Sovereignty Act” –  if it has any substance at all, will simply be struck down by the courts, in which case it is a make-work project for lawyers. If the Act is just a symbolic gesture, it will contribute to uncertainty for investors and those who want to move here and create jobs. Either way, this flirtation with separatism, to appease extremists far outside the mainstream, is a waste of time, money and effort. A premier should not indulge such nonsense.

Meanwhile, Danielle Smith is creating chaos in health care. Our exhausted frontline workers haven’t even had a chance to get their feet under them after the last two and a half years of fighting the pandemic. But the UCP have decided now is the time for risky destabilization of Alberta Health Services. Meanwhile, Smith has stated she would like to ensure Albertans pay out of pocket for more services, such as visits to a family doctor.

I’ve said before in this column that public healthcare is a promise that all Canadians made to each other over 50 years ago. It’s part of the social concrete beneath our feet: that everyone – regardless of your paycheque or region or background – deserves to be taken care of when we get sick. I will always believe that, and I will always fight to preserve and grow our system so that we can continue to get the care that we need (including family physicians here in Lethbridge!), and that the hard-working staff who provide those services are given the respect that they deserve.

It’s clear that the UCP are not committed to respect for public health care – not the folks who work in it or the Albertans who rely on it. Albertans know that Rachel Notley and her entire Alberta NDP team will always stand up for public health care.

Finally, as finance critic, I have been watching Alberta rack up a budget surplus due to a spike in the price of oil. The 2022 price spike was due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – a war that Premier Danielle Smith supported at the time. I believe Alberta’s surplus revenues need to be carefully managed in a fiscally responsible way. That is why our NDP Opposition has asked retired chief eonomist of ATB Financial, Todd Hirsch, to provide advice on how to best invest our surplus to build a resilient Alberta economy. It is also why our NDP Opposition pledged to save at least half our budget surplus so that we can invest those savings and have revenue to pay for health care and education for decades to come. We will have more to say about our fiscal anchors and investment blueprint for private sector growth in the weeks to come.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to our office if you require assistance with provincial programs. You can reach us by calling 403-329-4644 or by emailing Lethbridge.West@assembly.ab.ca.

Finally, if you or someone you know is struggling with mental health this time of year, please know that you are not alone and that there are many of your neighbours who are feeling the same way. To find out more about resources, visit albertahealthservices.ca/amh. Those in immediate distress can call the Canadian Mental Health Association’s Southwestern Alberta Distress Line at 403-327-7905 or toll free 1-888-787-2880. This line is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.