EDMONTON, AB: With Alberta facing one of the worst recessions since the National Energy Program, the Wildrose Official Opposition today called on the NDP government to reverse its harmful policies and implement Wildrose recommendations to get Alberta back on the right track.
With a projected $10.9 billion deficit, a debt-to-GDP ratio of 10.25 per cent, wages down 3 per cent, over 100,000 out of work, a depression in the energy industry that is set to spread to the rest of the economy, and no plan to reduce the debt other than vague promises of diversifying the economy, Albertans are demanding action.
“Albertans have been hearing from Wildrose for over a year about the damage that NDP policy is doing to our economy,” Wildrose Shadow Finance Minister Derek Fildebrandt said. “This fiscal update is a rude wakeup call to everyday Albertans that while they are trying their best to balance their pocketbooks with less, the NDP government is on a spending binge using borrowed money.”
A handful of NDP policies could be immediately reversed to encourage growth in Alberta’s economy, rather than the status quo of NDP ideology scaring investment away. The policies that Wildrose is urging the NDP to adopt are:
- Stop the $3 billion carbon tax that will make everyday life more expensive for Albertans as of Jan. 1, 2017;
- Accept the Wildrose’s 10 Budget Sustainability Recommendations;
- Slow down the drastic minimum wage increase that is forcing small businesses to lay off employees or close;
- Drop the expensive legal battle paid for by Albertans and instead negotiate with Enmax, a company owned by the City of Calgary, over Power Purchasing Arrangements;
- Create an economic summit on best strategies to bring investment back to Alberta using the best minds from the private and public sectors; and,
- Adopt the Wildrose Jobs Action Plan to restore stability and create investment in Alberta.
“Alberta is at a breaking point under the heavy hand of the NDP government, and Albertans are demanding that this government change course,” Wildrose Shadow Economic Development and Trade Minister Prasad Panda said. “So long as the NDP government continues to put ideology over common sense, we won’t see the investment needed to spur economic growth once again. The stakes are too high for the NDP to ignore what everyday Albertans are asking for: a reversal of this government’s damaging economic policies.”
Panda also said that Wildrose will continue to be on the side of everyday Albertans, proposing common sense ideas to kick start the economy and get Albertans working again.