EDMONTON, AB: Following Finance Minister Joe Ceci’s announcement that Alberta’s long overdue budget will be tabled on Oct. 27, the NDP must reconsider its priorities and introduce a budget that is truly in the best interests of Albertans, the Wildrose Official Opposition said Monday.
“Wildrose has been repeatedly calling on the NDP to bring back the Legislature immediately,” Wildrose Shadow Finance Minister Derek Fildebrandt said. “Instead, their party is playing politics and holding off on tabling their budget until after the federal election for the sake of their friends in the federal NDP, a move we simply cannot afford.”
It has been over a year and two Premiers since a budget was passed in Alberta.
“Our province’s path to balance will not be achieved through tax hikes,” Fildebrandt said. “No government has ever spent its way to a balanced budget, particularly in a time of economic uncertainty.”
Alberta has among the highest per-capita spending costs across the board at $11,800 per person, and a bloated bureaucracy.
A recent poll of Albertans finds 70 per cent or respondents reject the idea of increasing taxes to reduce Alberta’s growing deficit.
“The NDP and the previous government have imposed huge tax hikes on Albertans and job creators,” Fildebrandt said. “They should make clear now that they will not break their promise to Albertans by raising taxes beyond even those in their platform.”
