Well, my home province just turned 100 years old last week. The fireworks were awesome. As I watched, I began to reflect on this province's rich history and all the people involved in building an infrastructure out of nothing. Look how far we've come! There is such great opportunity here. People are moving from all over to be in this great square borderland that had a bite taken out of its corner.
Then I thought, "Hey wait a minute.... It could be better!" A province so rich in oil revenue right now with massive budget surpluses should give back to its citizens, directly, and permanently. No one time cheque. No super spending on a program to bloat bureaucracy. Some simple things.
1. Eliminate the health care insurance premiums. This tax hurts those just above the exemption cut off, which I think is only $12,000. Mine get paid by my company as a benefit, but most who have to pay are students over 25 who haven't landed that cushy job yet. It's tough, I know. I've been there. It's a real pain in the ass. The gov't gets $500 million in revenues from this. We have a surplus of $2.6 billion and growing.
2. Tax cuts. Alberta has a flat tax of 11.5% that was introduced back in the late 90's. It's been a while. Reduce it.
3. Roads and infrastructure. The "Highway to Hell", i.e. the one from Edmonton to Ft. MacMurray needs to be widened. Ft. Mac needs a lot of infrastructure as this is the place that's fueling the gov't surplus in the first place! Workers living in tents is not good. Housing is a huge issue there.
4. Force universities and colleges to cap tuition and force them to find ways to save money. We all know how bloated these bureaucracies are (the U of A is the worst). Tuition goes up not necessarily because of a lack gov't funding, on the contrary, but because the university doesn't have the guts or mindset to eliminate their own waste and mismanagement.
There. If there are any PC leadership hopefuls reading this (ha!), take note. This means you Dinning, Norris, Hancock, Oberg, and Stelmach.
Or maybe Ralph will beat you to it again.
3 comments:
Good points Snak.
On point four...Universities have to place some of the blame on themselves. While they accept corporate donations for new buildings (which I don't have a problem with as long as free speech isn't hampered), the problem lies in the fact that once a company sponsors a building that's it. The universities are left to foot the bills for heating, electricity, ect. They must realize that.
Read an intersting article about Alberta and it's place in confederation. It revolved around the issue that instead of worrying about what Canada (the evil empire...the feds) are doing let's get our books straight, show that Alberta can and will succeed on it's own and finally become a major player!!!
Oh, who I'm I kidding, this will never happen with Quebec sucking this country dry. Poo!
Isn't it Ontario trying to suck Alberta for all she's worth? Miss the debate.
I agree wholeheartedly. Especially about the U of A. I knew someone who was hired to fly up from Cowtown every two weeks to teach those idiots how to spend money PROPERLY. Frightening.
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