The NDP candidate for Airdrie-Cochrane, Shaun Fluker, argues the UCP government’s Budget 2023 proves Cochrane has been ignored.
Alberta Finance Minister Travis Toews tabled the provincial budget on Feb. 28, marking the first UCP budget under new premier Danielle Smith. The budget highlights a forecasted surplus of $2.4 billion for 2023-24, will see spending grow by just under four per cent, and will see the province invest $24.5 billion into health care, an increase of 4.1 per cent from 2022.
However, Fluker feels the UCP has still not recognized pressing needs for health care and education across the province, especially when it comes to new schools in Cochrane and area.
“The current UCP government is making the same mistake that prior conservative governments have in prosperous times of high oil and gas prices; spending in the short term without any indication of a long-term vision,” Fluker said.
He said the UCP has historically been critical of the NDP for spending too much. Yet the Feb. 28 budget, he argues, contains higher spending than anything previous NDP governments had put forward or projected.
The UCP is spending nearly all of what Fluker called the “unexpected boost in royalty revenues” resulting from world events that nobody could have foreseen. So he argues the government is not exactly living up to its self-described preference for controlled spending.
“These are governments that tell Albertans they are fiscally prudent and accuse their opponents of not being so, so It’s hard not to see those comments as hypocritical,” he said.
He said an NDP government would have focused on providing more funding for public institutions like health care and education, especially in areas like Cochrane, where there is a space crunch at many local public schools.
“You would see more real dollars for K-12 schools (in Cochrane),” he said.
He added that things like “pre-planning” funding doesn’t reflect the real need for schools across the province when what’s really required is construction funding resulting in shovels in the ground.
Fluker said he was surprised the higher-than-expected surplus didn’t translate into any good news locally.
“I can’t believe the fastest growing community in the province was completely looked past,” he said.
“There’s a whole lot of spending here, but the priority certainly isn’t in Cochrane.”
To read more about the Feb. 28 budget details, click this link.
