EDMONTON, AB – While Premier Jim Prentice is talking about raising everyone’s taxes, a $1 million empty Zamboni garage stands as just the latest example of the PC government’s waste and mismanagement overseeing Alberta’s finances, the Wildrose Official Opposition said.
According to news reports, in 2013 the PC government scrapped plans to build a skating rink outside the new MLA offices, one of the few features meant for public use from the $400 million project. Before plans were canceled, the province spent $832,000 on the now empty garage.
“While Mr. Prentice is talking about raising everyone’s taxes, we continue to see examples of this government’s waste and mismanagement. This is exactly the kind of poor planning that has left Alberta unable to cushion ourselves from the latest drop in oil prices,” Wildrose Infrastructure Critic Pat Stier said. “People are sick of being asked to sacrifice, pay more, or watch our hospitals decay, while their government is burning $3 million on empty tool sheds and Sky Palaces.”
Stier said the Zamboni garage raises many serious infrastructure questions, like who approves bloated building contracts.
“This has to be the only 128-square-metre garage in the world to cost almost a million dollars and Albertans deserve to know how these spending decisions are being made,” Stier said.
Wildrose MLA Shayne Saskiw said whether it’s luxury draperies, marble tiling, private amphitheaters or roof gardens, the entire renovation of the Federal Building has been one example of waste after another.
“While bureaucrats and MLAs get to enjoy the plum benefits of marble tiling and a movie theatre, Albertans are left with nothing but an empty garage and a symbol of this government’s waste,” Saskiw said. “If Mr. Prentice wants to keep talking about breaking his promise and raising everyone’s taxes, he should start looking out the window of his office and see the hundreds of millions wasted above more important priorities.”