The Honourable Doug Horner, President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Finance, and the Honourable Kyle Fawcett, Associate Minister were in Drumheller Tuesday morning to talk budget.
The Alberta Government is midway through a series of open houses throughout the province. These are to allow Alberta residents’ voices be heard and give their direction in respect to the budget. About a dozen residents from Drumheller and as far away as Hanna were at the Badlands Community Facility. So far Minister Horner said they have heard a variety of responses.
The open house format is more than just allowing participants to express opinions, it's an exercise to consider budgeting priorities. Participants consider a series of questions in small groups.
“We wanted to have a discussion and listen to what people were telling us from their discussions, and that is what is going on right now,” said Horner. “We’ve structured it so that the survey we have online, the structural framework survey that Minister Fawcett and I have been doing with corporations and organizations all match up so we get consistent feedback from the same type of questions.”
He adds that does not mean the discussion is limited. He is hearing feedback on a variety of aspects of the budget.
Doug Horner, President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Finance (left) and Mayor Terry Yemen discuss budget priorities at the Badlands Community Facility on Tuesday, October 9.
mailphoto by Patrick Kolafa
It is early in the process with only a meeting in Calgary previous to the Drumheller open house, but they are seeing trends.
“People are talking about being a growing province, building for the future. There is a lot of infrastructure demands, we are talking about bridges and roads, and schools,” said Horner. “Health, education and infrastructure seem to be the top priorities so far, but we will see as we go further along in the process.”
There is not much difference in the priorities of rural and urban residents.
“Rural education is important in small communities and making sure we have a sustainable education in communities that students can access,” he said.
Many of the budgetary issues the province is seeing today are not much different as the price oil fluctuates.
“That is part of the savings discussion we are having for investing in the future. I think it is important that we look at ways to diversify the economy. I know it's talked about a lot but it is important that we look at ways we can ensure the entire province is sustainable economically. Agriculture is still the second largest part of our economy and we want to protect that. Tourism is the third largest so we want to look at ways to augment that. These two things, and oil and gas are the cornerstones for rural Alberta. We want to make sure there is value added to that, we want to make sure the market pushes it so it is sustainable and not funded with tax dollars.”
Horner said the government is making a concerted effort to show representation to all areas of the province.
“We are going to make sure we are a government for all Albertans. One of the reasons we came to Drumheller is we wanted to go to one of the areas of the province that has not had this in the past,” he said. “We wanted to make sure we hear the concerns from all areas of the province and obviously Drumheller is one of the biggest tourism draws in the province, and we wanted to make sure we heard from them.”
The open houses will continue until October 13. On Tuesday the group headed from Drumheller to Lethbridge and Medicine Hat. If a person is not able to make the meeting it does not preclude them from going to the website and letting their voice be heard.
Alberta residents can participate by going to www.dollarsandsense.alberta.ca. There, Albertans can participate by completing an online survey on the budget and one on the fiscal framework to set boundaries for spending, saving and funding infrastructure.
