The Politics of the Alberta Budget Elizabeth Smythe, Concordia - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The Politics of the Alberta Budget Elizabeth Smythe, Concordia University of Edmonton Step 1. Set the stage: The Blue Ribbon Panel Made me do it!! • Choose the “right people” • Limit the terms of reference • Choose your comparators wisely

Three priorities : • Getting Albertans back to work • Making Life Better for Albertans • Standing Up for Alberta

The first rests almost completely on a corporate tax cut, the Orwellian named “ Job Creation Tax Cut” and the hope of more access to markets. The reality is that investment in the energy industry is driven by more that just the corporate tax rates. The second makes life better through budgeting by stealth — That is by maintaining basic expenditures in core areas (health and education) while de-indexing (AISH, tax) and cutting in less obvious areas. The third involves dealing with identified enemies including those providing “disinformation” about the industry (the Canadian Energy Centre, aka the War Room) and those conspiring against the energy sector including the Trudeau government.

• Target strategically and divide and differentiate potential opponents: Public sector workers Universities and Students Big cities i.e. Calgary and Edmonton • Negotiate in the media, keep perceived opponents off balance and on the back foot---waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Note of the 28 post secondary institutions some grants are being cut by as much as 7.9 per cent, others including my own university by 0. Rationale for this is unclear and vaguely linked to institutions surplus

Results: Certainty for corporations-taxes Uncertainty for public sector workers, either wage cuts or increased layoffs, for universities (performance tied funding) Increased hardship for some, increased income inequality and if the real economy deviates from budget assumptions more of the same.

Alternatives? No disagreement that deficits need to be addressed and the growth of debt minimized. But it should be plan which shares the burden equitably especially among those most able to bear it. The decision to not address the revenue side but to cut corporate taxes and, despite the budget saying that the government needs to “pay attention to the volatility of revenue streams” it does nothing to create those revenue streams (for example via a modest sales tax and a carbon fuel tax) undermines social solidarity, ensures conflict down the road and does nothing substantive to address the looming climate crisis.