Well.
Nice budget yesterday.
Premised on $99.00 per barrel oil, the new P.C. Budget promises another deficit.
And that's after increasing the education portion of your property taxes by almost 10%, by some $107 million... the largest bump since Don Getty was Premier. Remember Don Getty? Essentially incompetent, he sought to survive his tenure by massive spending that drove the province into the ground.
Well.
Here we go again.
Projecting oil $10 per barrel higher than last year's average and $50 per barrel higher than the average over the last decade, Alison Redford also plans on a 9% increase in the economy to pay for the latest bribe to the Alberta Teacher's Association.
Some are dubbing her "Alison in Wonderland".
As the rest Alberta gets ready to go down the rabbit hole.
**P.S. - from Alberta Ardvark's Blog:
"In 2009 The Sustainability Fund was worth 17 billion dollars and four years and four consecutive deficit PC budgets later it now sits at $3.7 billion. That is 13 billion dollars gone in less than 3 yrs to cover deficit spending by the PCs. "
No problems, right?
3 comments:
Ron Liepert - Dick Johnson: Can you see a difference?
In many ways, we are in unchartered territory, and so it helps to look back for a somewhat comparable time in Alberta politics. In 1992 Klein beat Nancy Betkowski in the PC leadership race, then beat a right-wing Liberal Party, headed by Lawrence Decore (who won 32 seats).
So, for the second time in living memory, the PCs face a serious challenge from the right. Smith looks to me like a better politician (with more credibility, and no "Liberal" baggage), than the very good Decore. Redford is obviously no populist, like Klein was, and there is no sign of any fiscal conservativism in her. She's got one big win, with help from the fresh faced, "new politics" guy Stephen Carter (he was also campaign director for Mayor Nenshi).
So let the campaign begin ! There is no way that Redford can go for six weeks, mouthing that she will "consult" with Albertans after the election, on taxes. This line has got Kim
Campbell's "an election is no time to discuss policy ..." written all over it.
There is lots of material already (eg what Liepert said yesterday), and surely more to come, for Flanagan to put together a very credible narrative (and tv ads) that "the same old PCs" will indeed raise taxes.
I will be looking closely at the "trust" and "competence" numbers for Smith and Redford.
That is the key, IMHO--Flanagan has to overcome the too forgiving msm narratives around Redford.
I'm not betting on a Wild Rose win, though clearly I'll be parking my vote there..
But I'm betting that sometime in the next 12 months, Redford will be conceding that revenue has not met expectations.. As the Heritage Trust leaks $5 billion or so.
And the next electorate will be feeling the pain of the second coming of Don Getty.. At which time we will likely see Daniel Smith show us what she can do.
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