While there was frustration being voiced over cuts in the Alberta budget, one group says the cuts were not deep enough.
The first budget from the United Conservative government elected in the spring reduces overall program spending by 2.8 per cent over four years to balance the books by 2023 while delivering tax incentives and tax cuts aimed at helping the private sector grow an economy weighed down by sluggish oil and gas prices.
READ MORE: Alberta budget 2019 includes cuts to cities, civil servants, universities
Canadian Taxpayers Federation Alberta director Franco Terrazzano was not happy to see total spending still increasing in the 2019 budget.
“Past premiers have ignited a flame that is burning through interest payments every single year. Premier (Jason) Kenney is bringing the water gun to this budget to put out the flame when he should be using the fire truck,” Terrazzano said.
“To be fair, that is better than the past approach when premiers were trying to put out the fiscal fire with a gas can, but, again, good budget, better budget than last time, but it doesn’t go far enough — total spending is still up.”
READ MORE: Officials say Alberta budget 2019 full of ‘broken promises,’ bad news for taxpayers
Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi and Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson said the budget was filled with “broken promises.”
“Frankly, as mayor of Edmonton and on behalf of Edmontonians, I’m disappointed to see that the government of Alberta has ripped up the city charter fiscal framework,” Iveson told reporters after the budget was released on Thursday.
“As mayor, I need to be part of the conversation in our city over the next several days about this broken promise, the implications of all of the cuts to our city and our infrastructure programs.”
A special council meeting was held Friday morning, for Edmonton councillors to discuss the budget’s impacts on city projects.
Nenshi on Thursday read from a piece of paper that had a statement from the province vowing to respect the City Charter Fiscal Framework Act, before crumpling it up and throwing it away.
“That’s a black and white promise,” Nenshi said. “And that’s a promise broken. They are not respecting that long-term fiscal framework, which Calgarians relied on when they voted for the UCP and they said they would.”
But Terrazzano said it is time city councils better control spending.
“Albertans, businesses, we’ve been forced to tighten our belts for quite some time now. We’re seeing provincial politicians tightening their own belts, we’re seeing a budget that’s starting to tighten its belt, so it’s time for city councillors to tighten their belt, and it’s time they better prioritize,” he said.
“The provincial treasury is tapped out, taxpayers are tapped out. We have no more money to give, so city councillors are going to have to start better prioritizing.”
READ MORE: Winners and losers in Alberta budget 2019
The budget keeps education and health funding stable, but the government said it will review programs to see if they are delivering value for money.
Terrazzano said cuts should be considered in all areas.
“We would save over $3 billion if we brought our per-person spending and health care in line with our peer provinces, and we’re not even getting the best results,” he said. “To me and other Albertans, that’s unacceptable.”
For more on the Alberta budget, head to Global News’ dedicated Alberta Budget 2019 webpage.
— With files from The Canadian Press and Global News online journalist Heide Pearson
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