Budget created to sway voters before election
By Lethbridge Herald on March 25, 2023.
AT THE LEGISLATURE
Shannon Phillips – NDP MLA for Lethbridge West
As your NDP MLA, I am deeply concerned about the first budget presented by the UCP and Danielle Smith.
This budget is a sham, created to sway voters ahead of the election and saddle Albertans with the cost after they’ve cast their votes. The UCP’s costly plans, including the $20,000,000,000 R-Star royalty giveaway, the Alberta Provincial Police Force, and Alberta Pension Plan, are all hidden.
Many of the UCP’s affordability programs, including affordability cheques (that exclude hundreds of thousands of Albertans), electricity rebates, and fuel tax relief, will end soon after the spring election. This budget is a plan for the “Most Expensive Summer Ever” for Alberta families. You deserve better.
Budget 2023 includes forecasts for GDP and employment growth that are up to twice as high as private sector forecasts. Funding for critical services remains below where it should be, with healthcare funding short $1.4 billion and education funding short $1.6 billion after adjusting for population growth and inflation.
That means that our healthcare and our children’s education are being cut.
Healthcare is one of the issues I hear about most from constituents. Tens of thousands of folks in Lethbridge still don’t have a family doctor. People just aren’t getting the care they need. On top of this, the UCP is cutting $100 million from drug benefits, putting necessary healthcare out of reach for many Albertans.
Education continues to be underfunded, with Alberta maintaining the lowest funding-per-student in Canada.
The UCP’s new curriculum is a farce. The province is now 3,600 teachers short of what is needed, leaving thousands of children without the support they require.This budget has no plan for economic diversification and does not address the need to attract investment and talent to our province. Alberta needs a resilient economy with good-paying jobs in oil and gas, renewable energy, agriculture, and new technology. Our Competitiveness, Jobs, and Investment Strategy is designed to attract billions of dollars in new investment and create tens of thousands of new industrial, private sector jobs.
Finally, Albertan’s retirements are at risk. The UCP are currently hiding a report about creating an Alberta pensions plan.
They know that no one besides their wealthy donors want this. They’re worried that it will hurt them in the election. But they still plan to go ahead with it… after they’ve bought your vote. Despite these challenges, Albertans do not have to accept this budget. In two months, you will have a choice, and you can choose better.
The Alberta NDP will support families by consistently funding healthcare and education every year, not just by reversing a few cuts in the weeks leading up to an election. Our Family Health Teams plan will connect an additional one million Albertans with access to a family doctor and quality family healthcare. And we will never make you pay to take your kids to the doctor. We will work to make sure you can make ends meet, that you can provide for your families, and that you can even put some away for a rainy day. We believe you deserve to retire with dignity, and will never mess with your pension.
We have real plans based on evidence, research, and common sense. With the Alberta NDP, Albertans have a real choice for a brighter future.As always, you can find us at 403-329-4644 or through email at lethbridge.west@assembly.ab.ca. Please feel free to contact us about these or any other concerns you have.
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Because many of us Albertans have serious concerns about the conduct, and almost daily unforced errors of and by the Smith UCP, we will be voting for the Notley NDP.
As to the recent announcements by Mr.Toews, UCP Finance Minister, and Ms. Savage, UCP Environment Minister, of their intentions to not seek reelection, one might wonder whether the apparent invasion of the UCP by the disturbing radical right wing movement, Take Back Alberta (TBA), is a factor. It appears that the TBA movement wishes to take over the UCP. What of the progressive conservatives within the UCP? Are they happy about TBA? One might wonder if the UCP is imploding because of this, let alone for the UCP scam, the RStar $20 billion proposed socialist royalty giveaway to the oil and gas sector for well site cleanup which they should be doing, and have done, on their own, legally. Unreal.
Yawn. Philips whining yet again after losing to the UCP. Break out the popcorn, folks, here we go again.
Sure is fun watching Tanner implode. lmao!
As usual more fearmongerng and negativity from someone with few alternative policies. Keep in mind that the former NDP government recklessly added $50 billion dollars to the provincial debt and spread woke ideology into everything they touched..
Do we really want to go down this tax and spend road once again, from the most economically illiterate party in Alberta.?
The only thing you don’t whine about is something you do, thinking it is always right, because you are perfect!
Reminder: You destroyed this city with your SCS/harm reduction plan you forced on this city against the citizens concerns and we had to get rid or the NDP to close it and slow down the destruction of young lives. You opened pandora’s box and it is very hard trying to take back our city after you did that.
How many businesses did you destroy? How many lived were lost? How much did and is it costing the Lethbridge taxpayers? Local taxpayers paid over $14 million of local, not federal or provincial tax dollars last year to try to remedy the crisis that exploded because the NDP’s harm reduction plan that has proven to be a complete failure, by looking at the best ‘scientific’ evidence next door in BC. You and all your non-profit buddies who suck the taxpayers and donor base dry are salivating in hopes of you winning the next election so they can move in along with your SCS plans for this city!
We will not allow it and do not want to see another Vancouver DTES where in just a small section of Vancouver, with under 20,000 people $400 million is spent of almost 300 groups for support services and housing projects. The non-profits are loving it and in BC non-profits are now a billion dollar industry and they want to come here and to the same. Only 1/3 of that $400 million is from donations, the rest is from the taxpayer!
I would suggest you do 2 things: buy a mirror and have a long look at yourself and then, look at the damage you have done to this city and many families lives!
You sue the LPS as well, costing the local taxpayers even more money after they took more than reasonable actions to the officers who surveilled you.
You destroyed our city and now you want our vote? Nothing pleases you and you cannot act professionally it appears from watching many of your rants!
I concur pursuit with all of your truths. I think more people would become educated by watching the Legislative Sessions, and getting FACTS from Hansard. The NDP show so much disrespect of the Speaker with their Heckling and Ms. Phillips is ridiculous with the disinformation and Fear Mongering. Stay on the West side, where last time you only won by approx. 230 votes.
What about your wonder-girl Tanner?
Reason enough to ignore your pleadings.