As expected, the Wildrose Opposition has major concerns about the budget just released Tuesday afternoon.
    The Alberta Legislature began session on October 26, and the newly elected government released its budget Tuesday afternoon.  First blush is that the budget is heavy on spending. Their plan sees $34 billion for infrastructure over the next five years to spur the economy, aiming to create 10,000 jobs.
    Even more concerning, the government is projecting taking on debt for operations.
    For MLA Rick Strankman there is still much to look at.
   “We haven’t delved to the bottom of it yet,” he said.
    One concern for him is rural health care.
    “They talked about more spending for health care, and there is a line in there where the minister talks about cutting back on some infrastructure services, but stabilizing jobs for a bunch of people,” he said.  “I don’t understand if that would be scary for small facilities like Oyen, Consort or Castor. We haven’t been able to sort into that yet.”
    One change he said could be considered positive by some, is that they have changed the Alberta Farm Fuel Distribution Allowance from 9 cents to 13 cents.
    “In my understanding, if I read this right, that farms and off road vehicle users will be getting another 4 cents per litre benefit,” he said. “That is a taxation benefit from a government that is running a major deficit.”
    “At the same time, some of these guys work for pipeline companies, that creates a lot of jobs and the fuel to burn on all of these lease sites they are all off road,” he said.
    He said now the tough work begins.
    “We are sorting through it line by line to the best of our abilities. Next week I will be first up for budgets and estimates, doing agriculture and forestry. So we will be going through line items in both of those departments to learn and understand what and why the government has done the things they have.”
    The Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) has been assessing the budget on how it relates to communities. It expressed concerns about cuts to affordable housing.
    “We understand that the province is dealing with reduced revenues, but it is unfair and shortsighted for the province to cut funding for something so important,” said Lisa Holmes, AUMA president.
 She points out in a press release, that it is especially disappointing to see the provincial government cut funding for provincial housing, when one of Premier Notley’s campaign promises included “expanding powers available to municipalities to allow them to mandate affordable housing in new development projects, expanding the supply.”
    They had praise for the budget showing support for Family and Community Support Services and also welcome increased spending on infrastructure, including water and wastewater and transportation
    “Today’s announcement of increased funding for municipal water and wastewater systems and transportation and public transit hold great promise for our province,” explain Holmes. “Investing in municipal infrastructure is essential to increasing our productivity, improving environmental stewardship and ensuring a better quality of life for all Albertans.”