Athabasca residents had the opportunity to have dinner with two provincial Ministers last weekend.
With a provincial election likely to be called in the near future, Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater MLA and Minister of Infrastructure Jeff Johnson played host to a dinner event at the Athabasca Agriplex last Friday. Also attending was Diana McQueen, the Minister of Environment and Water.
The evening was full of discussion on a number of issues important to community members.
Decisions impact the
future
“Today’s short-sighted decisions are tomorrow’s long-term problems,” Johnson said, quoting premier Allison Redford. “We’re not just building Alberta 2012; we’re building Alberta 2020, and 2030 and 2040.”
The decisions made by politician’s decades ago are still affecting Albertans today, according to the local MLA.
“Where would we be without decisions this province made on the oil sands?” he said. “Where would we be if we hadn’t started setting aside land for the ring roads 40 years ago?”
Johnson said that the Progressive Conservative party stands for forward thinking and decision making.
“Alberta made a conscious decision decades ago that we wanted to attract the investment to Alberta to the oil sands,” he explained. “We accomplished that by giving them very low royalty rates.”
The oil sands companies are running royalties anywhere from one to ten per cent until payout.
“Then they jump up to 30 or 40 per cent,” he said.
Travel Alberta North
After Travel Alberta North was dismantled, many residents in northern Alberta were worried about how it would affect tourism.
“The local initiatives will keep going on,” Johnson said. “The only frustration I have, and I know other rural and northern MLAs have, is that whenever you see videos or brochures, you see lots of mountains, but you don’t see anything north of Calgary in those promotional pieces.”
Johnson has faith in tourism still being a big part of living in northern Alberta.
“I don’t see it as a big threat to the regional tourism initiatives or to northern Alberta, but it’s something we’ll pay attention to,” he said.
Heritage Trust Fund
Johnson wanted to debunk all the rumors about the Heritage Trust Fund.
“There is a Heritage Trust Fund, which is our long-term savings, which was set up decades ago, and we take interest out of that and put it into general revenue every year,” he explained. “Then there is the Sustainability Fund, which was set up years ago, you set aside in the fat years so you have money in the lean years.”
Money was set aside into the Sustainability Fund where it peaked at $17 billion.
“Alberta is very susceptible to commodity prices and exchange rates,” Johnson said. “What we did was set aside money into funds. The Sustainability Fund is projected to be $8 billion at the end of March.”
This fund was set up for this purpose.
“That’s the fund that we take money out of when we need to pay for programs if our revenues dip below our expenses,” he said.
The Heritage Trust Fund isn’t a fund that the province withdraws money from.
“That’s long-term savings,” Johnson said.
Budget matters
Residents who attended the dinner asked about the budget, and what running a deficit means to the province.
“The budget that we are projecting is to run a small deficit of $885 million, and then leading to a large surplus in year three,” he explained. “There are some folks that think we are over estimating revenues, which I think we will prove not to be the case.”
Johnson said that even though they will be running a deficit, they are not creating debt to balance the books.
“That’s really key to keep in mind,” he said. “Other provinces are having to run a deficit to balance their books, but they are borrowing money to do it.”
Johnson wanted to make sure that people know that they are not running a deficit to cover operating costs.
“We are bringing in $40 billion in revenue and we’re spending $36.5 on operating,” he explained. “The reason we are running a deficit is because we’re spending $4.5 billion on capital grants.”
The money is going towards building schools, hospitals, and grants for municipalities.
“If you want to cut $1.6 billion out of the budget to balance it, you better tell us, the communities, which school you are going to cut, what hospital is going to be cut, and how you are going to take half their municipal funding away,” Johnson said. “We’re not prepared to do that. We don’t think it’s the right thing and we think it’s short-sighted.”
Seniors important for PC’s:
McQueen
After a seniors grant (for the renovation of homes to be more friendly to aging citizens) was cut, residents of Athabasca had questions.
“There are some dollars available though the seniors ministry,” McQueen said. “Our prime minister believes that funding should flow down to the provinces and the provinces will distribute as they see fit.”
Although the federal grant no longer exists, McQueen ensures that soon it will be available provincially.
When it comes to aging citizens, she said the Progressive Conservative party has a vision.
“We believe that we can have seniors age in their home,” McQueen said. “If we can keep seniors in their homes and bring home care to them, so that they will stay in a place that is comfortable … it keeps them healthier as well.”
McQueen received a round of applause for those words.
“Quite often one of the seniors is quite healthy, and the other one may need some care,” she continued. “The seniors built our province, and we need to give them the dignity to have the choice of aging in their home or aging in facilities where couples can stay together.”
Another key point McQueen stressed is that building continuing care beds would be better for seniors all around.
“When we build continuing care beds and assisted living, we build units so if you can’t stay in your home, you can stay together as a couple,” she said. “Long-term care is okay, but frankly those who can live in continuing care units and assisted living, they don’t see themselves as moving to the next phase in their life.”
McQueen says that when a senior moves into long-term care, it has mental implications.
“Mentally they feel that they are moving towards the end of their life, whereas if they are in continuing care, health care is brought to you,” she said. “We know we have to build these units, but we know that the longer we can keep seniors in their homes, we know that they are going to be happier, and it’s a better way.”
Immigration discussed
Immigration into Canada is a one-size-fits-all program. But McQueen wants to see immigration fall to the provinces to make the big decisions.
“The outlook in Alberta and western Canada is very strong in regards to jobs,” she said. “What we’re saying is that in other parts of the country it is not the same.”
Other provinces, such as Ontario, don’t want to open immigration too much because it will affect those already living there.
“What we’re asking is that … the provinces with booming economies, give us more numbers,” she said. “We’re working to make it easier to bring us more numbers. It is very difficult when you are trying to bring people in because you have to balance the needs of all the provinces.”
What McQueen wants to see is flexibility within the federal initiative.
Dinner well attended
“Tonight’s dinner is a continuation of what we’ve been doing for the last four years, which is getting cabinet ministers and caucus members out to the region so they can network with our decision makers,” Johnson explained.
“It’s doubly important for me right now because we’re revving up for an election.”
Approximately 100 people attended the dinner at the Agriplex.
“It’s fantastic to spend time with local people dealing with real questions and real concerns and not the theatre that’s in Edmonton,” Johnson explained.
As for the question period, Johnson said the questions weren't out of the ordinary.
“They are typical of what we’re hearing,” he said. “There is a big concern about health care, seniors, education, budget, and in our area they are concerned about agriculture.”
