Alberta is coming back strongly
By Lethbridge Herald on August 13, 2022.
AT THE LEGISLATURE
Nathan Neudorf – UCP MLA for Lethbridge East
This year continues to be a challenging one. Just when it appears that we are getting past COVID-19, we experience yet another wave of cases and face record-breaking levels of inflation.
I have been hearing that many families in Lethbridge and across Alberta are struggling with high living costs and inflationary pressures.
That is why our government is working so hard to make life more affordable while calling on the federal government to take this issue seriously.
One of the first things our government did was remove the 13-cent per litre provincial gasoline tax at the pump. Unfortunately, days after, the federal government increased the carbon tax, and any savings were quickly swallowed up by the considerable rise in gasoline prices.
This is why we extended the program until the fall, so as long as oil remains over $90/barrel, we will not be taxing on fuel at the pump.
Another way we are making life more affordable is by extending the electricity rebate for an additional three months. This program will now provide $50 rebates for six months – July to December – amounting to $300 in rebates for over 1.9 million homes, farms, and small businesses.
Many Albertans are starting to receive this series of rebates this month. New legislation was also introduced to address distribution and transmission policies to maximize our existing system’s efficiency while limiting new capital expenditures.
Natural gas prices are also a concern for many, and even though its been hot and sunny recently, we know winter is never very far away.
Ensuring that Albertans will not experience European-style price spikes this winter is vital, so we introduced a price protection program for natural gas.
The rebate program will be activated if prices rise above $6.50/gigajoule. Users can apply for a refund of costs above that threshold and know that protections are in place ahead of time.
To help with the rising cost of living, we provided $11 million to Alberta seniors in designated supportive living and long-term care homes.
This funding will help fight against inflationary increases to accommodation costs for 2022-23.
In addition, low-income residents who qualify for the Alberta Seniors Benefit or the Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped program are protected since these programs increase their benefits to offset annual charges.
Also, just this past week, we announced that we are expanding the Temporary Rent Assistance Benefit to more than 80 communities across Alberta – making rent more affordable for many Albertans who do not qualify for traditional affordable housing programs.
Much of the last two years has been overwhelming, and while the measures highlighted above are just a few things we are doing to help fight inflation, I want you to know that we are continuing to work to make life more affordable for working families.
We have further to go to overcome this inflation crisis, but eight straight months of job growth, 200,000 new jobs since 2021, and the lowest unemployment since 2015 means Alberta is coming back strong.
18-17
“Kenney’s Cuts Tracker. How do Kenney’s cuts affect you?”
http://www.standuptokenney.ca/kenneys_cuts_tracker
No amount of smokescreen talk such as this will detract many of us from the negative memories of the UCP mess….which will impact us for years to come. Much will need to be fixed once the Kenney UCP get the boot.
How is it that this op-ed is now considered to be “News” by the Lethbridge Herald?
maybe better to provide rebates on all the fixed charges and fees, rather than or in addition to rebates when the energy we use spikes past a certain threshold. maybe, better still to ban the fixed fees, which are in effect the real price “fix”. and, maybe, better still that govt – the people – take back ownership of their energy. that way, we get to control the cost of our resources – and resources are surely a need in this part of the world – and we get to reap the real profits, too. imagine, all that money and how much can be returned to the public to help cover the expenses of public needs, such as infrastructure, and public health and education.