RED DEER ADVOCATE Thursday, March 19, 2015 A3
Prentice ratchets back hardline vow to cut spending ALBERTA ASSOCIATION OF MUNICIPAL DISTRICTS AND COUNTIES EVENT BY THE CANADIAN PRESS EDMONTON — With a week to go before the Alberta budget, and with a possible election coming soon after that, Premier Jim Prentice softened Wednesday his hardline vow to impose deep spending cuts across government. “Some people would have us just slash and burn our way to prosperity by cutting services, cancelling infrastructure projects, and cutting drastically across the board,” Prentice told delegates at an Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties event. “That would hurt all of us, and would certainly hurt those who are most vulnerable in our society.” A month ago, Prentice and Finance Minister Robin Campbell promised the March 26 budget would include steep spending cuts of at least five per cent up to an effective cut of nine per cent across the board. Union leaders have said that would lead to layoffs and a deterioration of front-line services from schoolrooms to hospitals and beyond. Speaking later to reporters Wednesday, Prentice dismissed suggestions he was softening his stance,
but refused to confirm whether the five per cent cuts were still in the budget. “Next week, there will be a budget put forward that will have all the full detail,” he said. Prentice has said the budget will be accompanied by a paradigm-altering 10-year plan that will remake how Alberta earns and spends money in order to insulate day-to-day budgeting from the wild swings in oil prices. Since last June, the price of oil has fallen by more than half, erasing an estimated $7 billion in revenue from the upcoming budget. Prentice, in recent weeks, has emphasized that the core problem is as much about spending as it is about raising revenue. He has said Albertans are paying too much for public services, and that the province is on the hook for $2.3 billion in “unsustainable” public sector salary hikes over the next three years. He has also mused about bringing back health premiums and hiking or reorganizing personal income taxes. The premier has ruled out increases to oil royalties or corporate income taxes, saying that would be a self-defeating move with the economy in a fragile state. Prentice has promised the changes would chal-
ALBERTA
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‘THE ISSUE IS WHETHER ALBERTANS CAN ACTUALLY BELIEVE A WORD HE SAYS BASED ON WHAT WE’VE HEARD IN THE PAST.’ —RACHEL NOTLEY, NDP LEADER
lenge Albertans, and would bring “pain.” Two weeks ago, he angered many by publicly saying Albertans unhappy with the current fiscal situation should “look in the mirror.” However, in the Edmonton speech, the politician labelled by some as “Grim Jim” struck a more optimistic note. He said despite the downturn, the province will continue to build the infrastructure necessary for the province’s rapidly growing population, and emphasizing that all changes will be “balanced” and “fair.” “We have to continue to build, and we are building,” he told the audience. NDP Leader Rachel Notley said Albertans need to take Prentice’s words in the context of the looming election. “The issue is whether Albertans can actually believe a word he says based on what we’ve heard in the past,” said Notley.
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Alberta and B.C. man charged after street race involving destroyed Lamborghini SURREY, B.C. — Two men have been charged for street racing after a Lamborghini was destroyed in a crash in Surrey, B.C. RCMP say 27-year-old Adam Shtay of Edmonton was driving the high-end vehicle that went through a chain-link fence after speeding on a highway. Sgt. Dale Carr says Shtay was racing against 31-year-old Surrey resident Joshua Dally, who was behind the wheel of a 2013 Dodge Viper last Dec. 22. He says the vehicles were travelling at speeds of up to 157 kilometres an hour. Carr says police arrived as firefighters were extinguishing a fire from the Lamborghini and that Shtay and other occupants of his vehicle were standing nearby talking to the driver and passengers from the Viper. Carr says that if the men are convicted police will try to seize the vehicles and that the 2007 Lamborghini Murcielago in particular will still be valuable for its parts.
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CALGARY — An analysis of three oil-producing heavy hitters suggests Alberta isn’t socking away enough money from oil royalties. The Calgary Chamber of Commerce says there would be an extra $150 billion in the Heritage Savings Trust Fund if Alberta put aside resource taxes the way Norway does. The study also looked at the royalties approach taken by Alaska. Norway puts 100 per cent of its royalties into savings and Alaska saves 25 per cent. Unlike Alberta, Norway does not use its oil revenue to fund operating and capital spending. Justin Smith, the chamber’s director of policy, says it’s something that needs to be considered as the government works on a 10-year financial plan to get off the boom-bust roller coaster. He says reworking the province’s finances provides a chance to develop a “rigorous savings policy that will help us accrue well for future generations, but also be able to fund year-to-year services in a more sustainable way.” The Heritage Savings Trust Fund was created in the 1970s by premier Peter Lougheed’s government with a goal to set aside 30 per cent of oil royalties. “But over the years it’s been dipped into time and again ... and that’s why we’re sitting at such a paltry balance,” Smith said. Alberta’s most recent fiscal update indicated the fund is expected to reach $19 billion by the end of the fiscal year.
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