Re: Sept. 10 Simon's Spiel "UCP should practise what it preaches"
Pretty much every point that the author makes is very two sided, and only one side is shown. First off, the author feels that if the UCP supports consultation on the Bighorn, they should support consultation on the budget.
The first flaw is that the government has a legislated regulatory Land-Use Framework process in place for land management that requires consultation — it’s the law. Budgets typically don’t get consultations. Did Notley consult with companies before she raised corporate taxes 20 per cent (editorial note: to 12 per cent from 10 per cent), or imposed a carbon tax? Did Trudeau consult with the one per cent before he raised their taxes? Bighorn required consultation by law, budgets don’t.
The author says that if the previous administration had delayed their budget until after the federal election, the UCP would have been furious. The Alberta NDP delayed their budget until eight days after the federal election, so Trudeau wouldn’t lose support. The UCP didn’t exist then, and I can’t find one complaint from the Opposition about that delay, but there was an article that slammed the NDP for delaying the budget until after the federal election. I am surprised that the author didn’t know this. Wasn’t he upset by it in 2015?
The author also feels that the UCP only listens to corporations and people making six-figure salaries. If so, it seems they listen to about half the unionized nurses and teachers, all big-city police officers, (only one rank out of 13 has some officers earning less than six figures) and all big-city firefighters with five years or more experience. The author’s message seems to be that the UCP listens to unionized employees, more than the rest of us, as they make up a big chunk of those earning six figures in this province. The UCP is consulting with farmers, trying to undo the NDP mess that required porta-potties on every quarter, because it was drafted without consultation. But that was because it was an election promise.
Generally, a budget involves talking to experts, in this case, making a plan, doing research on how we can cut our expenses down to something just a little more than the other big three provinces, so we still have our financial edge, but don’t pay our teachers 20 per cent more than B.C. does, and we can balance our budgets again.
Bob Wilson,
Calgary
