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I think they have done a terrible job. They increased spending which, IMO, is the biggest blunder as well as their carbon tax model is garbage. Yes, yes, I understand it's a tough time in AB right now. When the NDP are booted out, their legacy will contain one thing - debt. I have been disappointed with the AB NDP and their 'make it right' ideology. |
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Why not just hold the line on spending?
The largest problem we face are social programs and the financial burden that they carry. Public healthcare takes up a huge amount of public money. That's just one program. The only way to gain more revenue is mostly by taxation and fees. We know we can't increase royalties. They're on par. The AB NDP also had a plan for public finances during the election campaign. I think it was tossed out at the first budget. Not sure I really trust anything that they say anymore regarding money. (I don't even think they care about public debt.) I'm not against the carbon tax, I'm against the AB NDP model of 'take from here and give to here.' The personal exemption amount for taxes should have been increased to offset OR income tax rates should have fallen to offset. The poor should get no free pass to pollute. |
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No, I support the policies and platform of the current government, I support the government that has committed to making decisions with the people of Alberta, not the corporations in mind, and I support the initiatives that would never be implemented under the regressive parties. I'm quite sure that a great number of folks realized that this could be a short run and the NDP are pushing their agenda because I think they know that time is limited as well. Alberta will go back to it's old ways eventually I am sure, but in this brief moment in time the opportunity was taken to try and do something more than just ensuring every grade 9 educated hick in the province can afford a brand new pickup and a big new house. |
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Another rare "CATI" poll released today by long time pollster Innovative Research. Corroborates earlier opinion poll results posted above and looks like AB NDP support has now completely collapsed:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CwnJ6r5WEAA2224.jpg |
The bottom line is we have to remain competitive on a global scale.
When I tell some people I support a rev neutral Carbon Tax, I get a response of - "Why would you support a policy that strangles our industry?" We haven't really seen anything from the NDP that attracts business here. And the stigma around their name really doesn't help. What was the reaction by the stock market for Canadian Energy stocks on May 6th, 2015?... Not good. The increase in corp taxes really hurt. Prentice had the right plan. Anyways, that's all in the past now. We need to attract jobs here. Plain and simple. The NDP isn't doing that. |
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Albertans just don't want a carbon tax of any form. Whether it is rev neutral or not, they just don't want it. As I said before, I just want my income tax to drop. Stop overtaxing my time that I invest into society/the economy and start coming down hard on social parasites that don't contribute but could. I just want proper fiscal policy. Fiscal responsibility is very important to me. When I live under a government that is going to have a legacy of debt, it bothers me greatly. |
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Maybe someday the chickens will come home to roost. Generations from now might be saying "They spent a huge amount of money with a total lack of revenue to pay for it and now we are screwed." |
I would just like to point out that government borrowing is very different from private borrowing. As governments, they get better interest rates and repayment plans. Governments are basically their own universes and when a government is big enough, it creates its own laws of physics that may not make sense in "our" universe but somehow work just fine in their fiscal universe.
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Quite the change of heart. One day you are running for leader of a party, the next you are jumping ship. To be fair I suppose Danielle Smith did basically the same thing.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmont...ucus-1.3855868 |
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1) AB has plenty of room to reduce health and especially education spending. It vastly out spends all Provinces per capita on education. Some of that is due to younger demographics but spending has still grown much faster than school enrollment plus inflation. On health, AB spending is similar to NL and SK, which have poorer, older and more dispersed populations. BC and ON spend considerably less and do not experience meaningfullly worse outcomes. 2) Even with freezes since 2012, AB's public sector is still far more bloated than those in other provinces. A teacher, for example, earns 10-20% more in Calgary than they would in Toronto or Vancouver 3) Freezes can rake many years to restore balance. For example when I worked as a medical lab tech in the early 90:s, the HSAA pay scale had been frozen since 1982. Even after the 5% roll backs in 1993, the scale in AB was still roughly 5‰ ahead of BC or ON. I also worked for AB Health under a AUPE contract that had been frozen since 1983 and still vastly out earned counterparts in other provinces. The City was even more restrained. Under Mayor Duerr employment fell slowly between 1989 and 2001. Wages were mostly flat. The legacy of that can be seen today in the almost complete absence of Gen X'ers working for the City. For example, the police and fire departments hardly hired anyone during the 90's. 4) As construction shares larfely the same resource poosl as O&G development, Infrastructure costs have declined substantially. Combined with reduced population growth, AB could easily cut 15.to 20‰ from the capital budget with negligible impact 5) The NDP is not on track to a balanced budget. It's tax increases have not brought in additional revenue. Each budget update presents ever deteriorating finances. 6) AB sits on a massive pool or cheap and largely stranded natural gas reserves. Power generation would likely have transitioned away from coal with no government action. The NDP's climate actions are largely symbolic and unnecessarily expensive. 7) The structural deficit us more like $10B. Coincidentally if AB spent the same per capita as BC that deficit would be sub $2B 8) The luxury or waiting to acknowledge AB's dire finances is rapidly disappearing as the bond market turns. Expect significantly higher interest rates and worsening deficits due to rapidly rising interest payments The solution would be definitely action to restore finances and eventually a friendlier investment climate: 1) Absolute hiring freeze. The deficit would be substantially lower if AB has froze hiring in 2014. Instead the provincial payroll has grown by tens of thousands 2) Present a - 5% wage roll back followed by 4 years of freezes and substantial cuts to pensions and benefits as union contracts expire. The government has all the negotiating power as the public backlash to strike action would not be sympathetic. A Calgary teacher with 6 years education and 10 years experience earns over $100k per year plus generous time off and benefits. The real kicker is the pension plan which awards 75% of a teacher's best 5 years of salary. Given that a teacher could be retired for as long as they worked, the all in compensation approaches $200k which would make it close to the highest paying profession. The thousands of Education new grads each year and slowly rising school enrollment would suggest supply would equal demand at much lower levels or compensation 3) The US is likely headed towards lower corporate taxes and less activist climate policy. AB will almost certainly follow to remain competitive |
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Have always noticed that the AB public service is "gold-plated" - best in Canada in terms of both wages/salaries/benefits and per capita. Have never begrudged AB on same. Have seen the left-wing ideological BCTF (BC teacher's union) for example, want similar salary scales as AB teachers during contract negotiations, which would have hit the BC treasury hard. At end of day, never happens. BTW, the same BCTF locals oppose all resource development in BC, which would provide the revenue for same. In any event, when AB was hit hard, economically speaking, by the oil price collapse, the AB NDP gov't: 1. Increased corporate taxes; 2. Brought in carbon tax; (wait for gas/natural gas consumer price spike in January, 2017) 3. Brought forward oil/nat gas royalty review - while no relevant changes, the uncertainty thereto was also a "tipping point"; 4. I can go on and on in terms of the "social engineering"; The entire AB gov't is full of misfits - social activists, enviro activists, and public sector union activists. The same modus operandi of the 1990's BC NDP gov't, which saw a 77-2 rout back in 2001. Funny thing. The higher echelons of the AB NDP gov't is infested with BC NDP party hacks. Have given a detailed schedule of names/positions in a previous post. And in my life-time, have never seen such abnormal provincial relations between BC and AB. Frankly, they are non-existent. Hell, SK is suing the AB gov't as result of defying the New West Trade Partnership. Cool. Even today, Eisenbergs' Fine Furniture closed after nearly 100 years in Calgary. A little thing but epitomizes what's going on in AB. A "tipping point", so to speak, as a result of AB NDP gov't social engineering policies? You betcha! Fast forward to the future. The Kinder Morgan pipeline twinning (TMP) to the BC west coast will likely be approved by the feds next month in December. To preface, I have been following this matter for years and opinion polls in BC consistently have ~21% "Strongly" opposed. Just a minority. Yes minor voices are also the loudest but are also mostly fringe. BTW, most Fist Nations in BC have already signed (or will be signing) project benefit agreements with TMP as a result. The remaining FN minority have been consulted in good faith as required by SCC legal principles. Even the BC gov't, with its own 5 conditions, is moving toward "yes" on the KM twinning. Now let's look at AB polis in this matter. Prentice, during his short AB preem stint, came to Vancouver and attempted to sell the KM twinning to the Vancouver Board of Trade. Made major news in BC. Calgary mayor Nenshi was just in Vancouver as well, attempting to sell the KM twinning: Quote:
As for AB NDP preem Notley? Shouldn't she be in Vancouver as well selling the KM twinning, both before and after the feds approve same? Would definitely help AB's interests in same. Seriously. But will she ever show up in Van City though? NADA. Notley is obviously more concerned about the NDP's interests in both BC and AB than Albertan's interests. No doubt about that. Kinda pathetic, don't you think? No other premier in Canada has ever operated/operates akin to that. But I digress. |
^ screw Nenshi. What a fucking hypocrite
1) Absolute hiring freeze. The deficit would be substantially lower if AB has froze hiring in 2014. Instead the provincial payroll has grown by tens of thousands This is pretty much a 100% lie |
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At the department in which my S.O. is a director (and the department with one of the highest head counts) they have not hired a single external candidate since the NDP took office. Positions are filled internally or have remained vacant
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