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Unfortunately,
despite the long days, the constructive debate and experienced advice from
the opposition, the UCP decided to – literally – put in earplugs, hunker down
and ignore the storm brewing around them. The Conservatives started off with a
public claim Alberta was deeper in the hole than the NDP had stated, but Kenney
proved this a lie when the UCP's own numbers showed the province was
$2 billion better off on the NDP plan than anticipated.
After
lying about the previous government, the UCP – elected on a platform of
fiscal responsibility – blew $13.5 billion in ill-advised, ideological
moves to give money to corporations (while ignoring small businesses),
cancelling the Climate Leadership Plan that brought in $7 billion and
shutting down the oil-by-rail deal that would have seen crude reach coastal
markets.
They
have cancelled programs and investments that put the UCP directly
responsible for the loss of up to 30,000 jobs. They have taken food out of
children’s mouths by cancelling the school nutrition program, cut salaries for
180,000 public sector employees, and attacked the incomes of our youth – many
of them financing themselves – by lowering their minimum wage, a move even
Ralph Klein recognized was cruel and unfair.
The
Conservatives threw school boards into financial chaos by refusing to set
funding for schools before their budgets were due, leading many boards to make
cuts and increase class sizes and others to take a gamble that they may
overspend, hoping the UCP will follow the NDP's funding plans. They will
re-implement a Grade 3 Provincial Achievement test, costing us millions of
dollars, despite teachers and evidence saying these tests at that level only
hurt the quality of education our children receive.
And,
worst of all, just before they took their celebratory bath in Edmonton, the UCP
rejected numerous pragmatic compromises from the NDP to amend Bill 8 and
ensure that LGBT youth would be protected. The UCP’s actions here represent the
first time in Canadian history a government has rolled back legislated rights
of the LGBT community – a move even conservative personalities like
Charles Adler are disgusted with.
There’s
a smell around the UCP and the legislature today, and it’s not the smell of
roses.
