Finance Minister Lloyd Snelgrove defended the provincial government’s 2011 budget on Tuesday, saying the Tories opted not to go on a “crash diet” and curb spending, as some would have liked.
“There are different ways to achieve results,” Snelgrove said yesterday at an early morning meeting at the Sturgeon Valley Golf and Country Club.
“Now we’ve all heard of the crash diet: quit eating, take a shot in the ass, lose 80 pounds, great. And for some people, in a very difficult position, it might be their only alternative,” he said.
“For different circumstances, certainly for people with critical health issues, that may be the only option they’ve got. But it wasn’t ours.”
Budget 2011, released last week, includes a deficit of $3.4 billion and an operating expense increase of $720 million, for a $33.9 billion total in 2011/12. Included in this figure is a six per cent funding increase to Alberta Health Services as part of the province’s 5-Year Health Action Plan.
The budget includes $6.6 billion in infrastructure spending this year as part of the province’s $17.6 billion 2011-2014 Capital Plan.
Snelgrove defended his government’s spending on infrastructure, arguing that stopping projects in the middle of construction would result in “astronomical” costs.
“So we’ve got to build this stuff. You know it.”
While opposition leaders last week criticized the government’s decision to dip into its Sustainability Fund to cover the deficit, Snelgrove said the move will help the province continue to deliver services and support communities.
“When revenues were high, we put it in the bank. Now that revenues are low, we’ll bridge to there and we’ll maintain the funding for health care and the MSI for communities and education — they’re world class,” he said.
Last week Snelgrove told reporters that low natural gas prices, the high exchange rate and ongoing economic uncertainty will continue to affect the province’s revenue, which is expected to increased by $1.6 billion, or 4.7 per cent in 2011/12.
Echoing a concern of school boards across the province, he said the government is aware of the school shortage but offered no solution.
“But what a wonderful problem to have — a province with more kids than schools because most of them have classrooms half full,” Snelgrove said.
Snelgrove said Education Minister Dave Hancock is working with the Treasury Board and school boards to determine how the school building program can be accelerated. “It will be done in a prudent, managed way,” he said.
Snelgrove also touched briefly on a sales tax in Alberta, a discussion that Tory leadership candidate Doug Griffiths has suggested Albertans should have.
“And the simple fact is while a sales tax may be an appropriate form of tax fairness, it is still a tax that takes money out of an existing pot,” he said.
He called the issue of a sales tax “a bit of a distraction” and said he worries that if one were ever introduced here in Alberta, it would continue to increase.
“And then my fear is we’ve put in five per cent, what would it be to grow to six?” said Snelgrove.
“Where does it quit? It’s a discussion that’s always there,” he said, adding, “We’ll put whatever you want on the table.”
