In the last Provincial election, Alberta Conservative Leader Jason Kenney promised on record to maintain Healthcare spending. This was definitely big news to everyone in the Health care industry and it obviously helped him win the elections.
We all know that healthcare is a big thing because it affects every one of us. Who wants a bad healthcare system? Definitely not me! One of the biggest assets that Canada has is our Public Healthcare System. The United States does not even have a health care system like ours. So we should all protect what we have and help make it a better system.
Fast forward to the aftermath of the provincial elections where the Kenney government postponed the announcement of their 2019 Alberta Budget. You now probably understand why they did it. If the budget was announced before the Federal Elections, do you think Alberta would have voted Conservative? You tell me.
Going back to Jason Kenney’s campaign promise, I had a chance to interview Kenney because there were unverified reports that he will cut healthcare spending. So we had to do our due diligence and go directly to the source.
Kenney says it is not true that he will cut healthcare spending, saying that he will maintain or increase it. Fast track to the Kenney government finally announcing the Alberta Budget and here we are today seeing cuts to the salaries of Public Workers in the Health Sector from 2% to 5%. Is this what Premier Kenney calls maintaining spending? Why the cuts in salary?
I understand that Alberta has a deficit. Alberta Finance Minister Travis Toews says we do not have a revenue problem but a spending problem. However, when asked about who started this problem, Toews admitted that it did not start with the NDP government. This started way before Rachel Notley was even elected.
The Kenney Government did not only cut the wages of healthcare professionals, he also cut education spending and lifted Tuition Freeze. Now students with student loans have to pay more. So why would you promise to maintain spending when your budget says otherwise?
Let us turn the tables around. What if I was the Government official and I did promise something and did not fulfill it. How would you feel if I cut your wage from 2% to 5%?
What makes these broken promises worse is that recently, the Government spent over $16,000 to charter a plane from Calgary to Saskatoon. I thought the Alberta Government does not have money, so why are they spending so much?
Kenney’s Principal Adviser David Knight Legg billed the Alberta Government $45,000 for his London travel. How can someone spend so much on travel when Public Sector workers are getting a wage cut?
This is outrageous spending when the Province does not have the resources. Essential services are slowly going to suffer. Should we allow this to happen? You tell me! It is high time that we make our public officials accountable for every dollar they spend from the Government coffers, which all comes from taxpayers like you and me.