Where to cut?
I laughed out loud while reading Chris Labossiere’s post, “The Fiscal Four Fraud.” He addresses the political opportunism of four Tory MLAs who began to publicly express doubts about the Government of Alberta’s financial management last week.
I made this comment on the post and decided to share it here (with a couple links added):
The real question for these alleged “Fiscal Four” is this: “name the specific areas of the budget you would cut (with the exact numbers, including layoffs) to balance the budget and why?”
Fiscal conservatism is a great claim to make. But judging by recent actions, I’m not certain these four – or much of the rest of the government – are prepared to answer this question.
Where is the honest conversation with Albertans about our provincial finances and where our true priorities lie? If anything, I hope the Fiscal Four’s political opportunism inadvertently leads us to having this conversation.
But before we get that far, let’s first not forget that Alberta’s finances are in better shape than most other jurisdictions in the world. We have no debt and billions in the bank, but we also have a projected $7 billion deficit this year because of short-term thinking.
It’s clear we need to make some changes, but it’s also clear that we have much more leeway than just about everywhere else in the world to address this budgetary problem with a long-term sustainable solution.
Here’s the rub: I don’t think regular Albertans are going to stand for big cuts to health care, education or any of the other big ticket portfolios. And given Ed’s recent promises about taxes, this leaves our government in an impossible place: stuck between those demanding no tax increases & massive cuts and the awakening public, who doesn’t think highly of our government and politicians in general, and who will not tolerate cuts resulting in poor quality health care services or in a sub-par education for their children.
I hope we see some real leadership on these important issues soon. Frankly, I’m surprised more politicians don’t see the real opportunity in this situation.
Apparently they think our biggest problem is how the media reports on our government. I don’t think Albertans would agree.
