It’s time for the UCP to drop its newfound interest in picking winners and losers
It’s a sad day for taxpayers when their government that has “committed to being responsible stewards of taxpayers’ hard-earned money” starts bragging about its corporate welfare spending. Premier Jason Kenney should immediately scrap the new business subsidy programs his government just announced and go back to focusing on cutting taxes for everyone rather than picking…
The single biggest day-to-day expense for the Alberta government is labour costs
The single biggest day-to-day expense for the Alberta government is labour costs. And with taxpayers footing the bill, we deserve to know just how much we are paying for all government employees with six-figure salaries. While Alberta’s sunshine list discloses the salaries and benefits of bureaucrats making more than $111,000 per year and employees of…
Alberta’s economy won’t start to fire on all cylinders unless municipal councillors are willing to start playing ball and cut taxes. A key pillar of the province’s economic recovery plan is the reduction of the business tax to eight per cent. Premier Jason Kenney has also made it clear that raising taxes right now would…
Tying income tax relief with savings from bringing government compensation in line with costs in other provinces will help put Alberta back on its feet
For Alberta to get back on its feet, it’ll take thousands of little things like families going out for pizza and restaurants rehiring servers to bring out those pizzas. The best thing Alberta Premier Jason Kenney can do to help those families do those little things is to lighten their tax burdens. And the premier…
Struggling families and businesses can’t afford to pay big property tax bills to fund bloated municipal governments. Alberta municipalities need to reduce that burden by addressing the cost elephant in the room: labour. For many Albertans working outside of government, the last five years have been nothing short of a nightmare full of job losses,…
Families and businesses have been tightening their belts for years. It’s time for Alberta’s municipal governments to get with the program
Alberta families and businesses have been tightening their belts for years and now it’s time for big spending municipal governments to follow that example. There’s lots of room for Alberta municipalities to save a lot of money. “Municipalities have experienced significant revenue growth of 48 per cent per person [between 2007 and 2017],” explained the…
The Fair Deal Panel’s report had two key takeaways: Albertans are tired of being treated as the cash cow for politicians in other provinces, and there is no fair deal for Albertans until we tackle equalization. About two thirds of Albertans think we aren’t getting our fair share from Confederation, according to an Ipsos poll…
Businesses need help, but it’s important to provide the right help the right way. Premier Jason Kenney’s economic strategy has so far revolved around three core principles: lowering taxes, cutting red tape and pushing back against Ottawa. Kenney should double down on these principles to help Alberta recover and stay away from corporate welfare. “The…
Kenney should fulfil his campaign promise, committing to a culture change and reaffirming the role of citizens as boss
More than a year into the United Conservative Party’s mandate, Albertans are still waiting for two key accountability reforms: recall and referendum rules. If government belongs to the people, then the people should be able to vote to recall misbehaving politicians between elections and initiate referendums to introduce or repeal legislation. Premier Jason Kenney can…
Federal wage subsidy should go to struggling Albertans, not to a political party with plenty of money in the bank
The United Conservative Party said it would stick up for taxpayers, but now the UCP is exploiting the federal wage subsidy and taking money meant for struggling Albertans. The federal government’s Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy provides employers affected by COVID-19 with a 75 per cent wage subsidy. The intent of the program wasn’t to force Canadians to subsidize…
Unfortunately, the UCP’s rhetoric has been on-point but its bite hasn’t matched its bark
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney will need to make tough decisions to keep the government’s leaking fiscal ship afloat. But before Kenney can sell necessary spending cuts, he will need to show the public that his United Conservative Party politicians and staff have done all they can to trim their own expenses. So far, the UCP…
By Aaron Wudrick and Franco Terrazzano Canadian Taxpayers Federation Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has chosen to make life more expensive for Canadians by increasing the federal carbon tax by 50 per cent amidst the COVID-19 economic and health crisis. Meanwhile, governments around the world are moving in the opposite direction because hiking taxes during a…
It’s telling that the people pushing for a PST never talk about looking Albertans in the eye and asking for permission
Every single time Alberta faces a financial challenge, some academics recommend the same pseudo-solution: a provincial sales tax. They seem blissfully unaware that governments are struggling because Albertans are struggling and a PST will make hard times even harder. Here’s proof of that disconnect: these academics always demand a provincial sales tax (PST) but never…
It’s time for politicians to show solidarity with Albertans and make the tough, but right, decision to reduce their own pay
There’s no doubt elected officials are working hard to manage the COVID-19 crisis, but with many businesses closing their doors and families worrying about their next grocery bill, politicians need to show solidarity with the people they represent and reduce their own pay. Between the coronavirus health pandemic, the global economic shutdown and the collapsing…
It’s a sad day for taxpayers when their government that has “committed to being responsible stewards of taxpayers’ hard-earned money” starts bragging about its corporate welfare spending. Premier Jason Kenney should immediately scrap the new business subsidy programs his government just announced and go back to focusing on cutting taxes for everyone rather than picking…
