EDMONTON, AB: The NDP government’s failure to deliver on a promised review of Alberta’s Agencies, Boards and Commissions (ABCs) has slapped a giant question mark on the upcoming budget, Wildrose Shadow Finance Minister Derek Fildebrandt said.
Nearly 50 per cent of tax dollars go to agencies, boards and commissions such as Alberta Health Services (AHS). Fildebrandt said the NDP has missed a perfect opportunity to eliminate redundant and overlapping costs in government spending, ahead of its first budget which is expected to usher in a record debt and deficit.
“Any government that is serious about balancing the budget and getting the finances under control needs to conduct a review of the province’s ABCs and eliminate the institutional inertia of the past 44 years,” Fildebrandt said. “This broken promise is a real missed opportunity for taxpayers.”
Fildebrandt said the NDP has contradicted itself on the pressing need to examine ABCs, pointing to past promises from Premier Rachel Notley to subject ABCs to the provincial sunshine list and to assess the “content as well as the quantity” of these organizations.
“There no longer appears to be any sense of urgency in government to turn over the rocks at organizations like AHS,” Fildebrandt said. “We’re going to have to wait until at least next year to see any accountability for government spending inside these organizations when the time for fiscal responsibility is now.”