Premier Rachel Notley vowed that Alberta would get back on its feet in the annual state of the province address on Wednesday, but said she is not sure the worst is behind us.
Premier Rachel Notley vowed that Alberta would get back on its feet in the annual state of the province address on Wednesday, but said she is not sure the worst is behind us.
"We've taken some hard economic knocks from the international price of oil, but nobody knocks Alberta down for long," Notley said.
The premier outlined the government's priorities to an invited crowd in the Jack Singer Concert Hall in Calgary, while facing sagging oil prices and increasing unemployment numbers.
Opposition member Glenn van Dijken, Wildrose MLA for Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock was not impressed with the event or the speech.
“When we are doing the state of the province address it should be available to all participants, all citizens, as opposed to invited guests,” van Dijken said. “Especially when you are spending the taxpayers' dime to put on the event.”
During her speech Notley pledged to not slash funding to core public services as a means to dig the province out of the deficit.
"It makes no sense to try to deal with a crisis in the price of oil by creating a second crisis in basic public services like health and education. That was tried in the past, and it failed," Notley said.
St. Albert NDP MLA Marie Renaud, was pleased with the government's commitment to public health and education and says she has seen first-hand the negative impact slashing health care funds has had on families.
The premier said that health care and education would be the only sectors receiving attention, while spending in all other sectors would stabilize. Municipal leaders are being called on to reallocate funds for new projects and provincial public sector workers “to find innovative ways to do more with the funding they have now.”
“We do need to look at what we are spending and we do need to make those tough decisions, what is really a priority and she was really clear about making the funding as stable as possible,” Renaud said. “I do think we have hard decisions ahead of us – whether it's in St. Albert – about what projects are most important. It also means doing a bit more with less.”
Notley brought attention to climate and said that if Albertans want the economy to improve “we need to lead in climate change.” She said that carbon tax was not the only way to combat climate change but it would help Alberta get the “social licence” to get pipelines built.
Along with climate, the premier outlined the government's priorities as economic diversification, improving the education system and gaining market access for energy exports.
Wildrose member van Dijken agrees with those priorities, but disagrees with the government's implementation of policy.
“What's lacking is a vision of how we are moving forward,” van Dijken said. “So we are protecting core services – fine – but it's one thing to gather in three billion dollars in carbon tax, but there is no transparency on the plan in investing that.”
