Rick Strankman
Drumhller-Stettler MLA
The Provincial Government has handed down its 2014 budget characterized as supporting communities and continuing to build the province, however it has met with criticism.
According to a press release from the Alberta Government, it has delivered a fully balanced budget that focuses on core areas that support families and communities through investment in health, education and support for those most vulnerable and at the same time investing in infrastructure.
“Alberta is the fastest growing province in the country, and we can’t afford to stop building. Under our Building Alberta Plan, we are meeting the challenge of enormous growth head-on, while focusing every day on making Albertans’ quality of life even better. By being conservative in our budget planning and living within our means, we have delivered Alberta’s first balanced budget in six years,” said Premier Alison Redford.
Local MLA Rick Strankman however says the budget continues to plunge the province deeper in debt.
“The unfortunate thing is the way the government is calling it a balanced budget. They are borrowing against capital equity and it isn’t a truism to say it is balanced,” said Strankman. “They have increased the deficit significantly. The budget is actually including over a billion dollars that is coming from the federal government, how can they use that as a consistent source of income?”
He says the operation budget is up almost six per cent and capital spending up almost eight per cent. He said according to the Wild Rose math, inflation plus population this year shows a suitable increase being in the area of 5 per cent.
There is one item he would like to learn more about, which could be a positive support for agriculture.
"Bill 1 talks about sustainability funds and one of these leads to hands-on style agriculture,” he said.
One example he cites of how this could be applied is an organization called the Chinook Applied Research Station near Oyen, which is doing hands on research to develop products specifically for the Special Areas.
"That was an interesting thing I noted and was supportive of, the government trying to inject money into those areas,” said Strankman.
He is not sure, however, with this budget, if funds would be allocated to these types of projects.
