Premier Ed Stelmach recently went on television to explain what economic policies he would be pursuing to lift the province out of its current economic predicament.
He said he and his cabinet colleagues would take pay cuts and urged the whole public sector to follow suit and then he also said he would use the “cash reserves” such as those in the sustainability fund to maintain infrastructure investments ongoing.
After the speech, I tested my hearing ability to make sure that I have heard everything correctly.
I think the populist nature of announcement on the pay cuts does not even deserve any lengthy discussion. It is much less than it is reported. For more details, our guest columnist T-Mac’s article on the next page is a good resource.
Now, coming to the use of cash reserves: Mr. Stelmach said he would use the cash reserves at the government’s disposal.
Here is the question: If the government has cash reserves, allegedly as much as $17 billion, why were a substantial number of health care staff laid off and why were acute care beds closed down due to spending cuts ?
Further, if the government does have those cash reserves ready to be used, why have the budgets of the school divisions come under attack in what was appropriately termed “clawbacks”?
I am not an economist and certainly not an accountant, but I would like to know why a government with billions of dollars in reserves would try to get a few hundred thousand dollars from one school division, and a few from others, in order to address an $80 million dollar deficit.
Is the problem economic hardship here or are we being misled to cover up the pursuit of an ideological agenda behind the smokescreen of economic difficulties?
In another intriguing development, I have read quite a number of articles commenting on the premier’s speech and I have not seen a single reference to his appeal to the population of the province to buy Alberta bonds.
Whether this is a deliberate omission on the part of journalists or just a collective negligence, there is no way of knowing.
These bonds will apparently be sold to borrow from the population to finance some of the programs that the government says will keep people employed.
But don’t you think that it is only fair to question the intention to borrow when someone says one has billions of dollars in cash reserves?
There is something which is not transparent here, something that needs to be explained in good faith and in strict honesty.