Budget views shared in meeting with finance minister and Chamber members

But Alberta still has the competitive advantage of its fiscal strength, he opined.

The budget, Horner explained, focuses a lot on investing in health care and education.

“We want great programs and excellent services, plus infrastructure, but sometimes those things are in conflict,” he remarked.

“Everywhere else took less.”

There are positives in the budget for Red Deer, as highlighted by Chamber CEO Frank Creasey.

They include continued funding towards construction of the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre expansion project ($1.34 billion), Highway 11 twinning from Red Deer to Rocky Mountain House ($62 million), Red Deer Regional Airport expansion ($3 million), and expansion of the Red Deer Polytechnic CIM-TAC east campus ($5 million).

There are also four new and ongoing school projects, including a modernization of Oriole Park Elementary.

“In relation to what our business community needs, it’s stability, and surety for the future. One of the questions highlighted today was what are they doing from a deficit planning perspective, and what are we doing for our future generations? If we don’t get that curtailed, and we’re looking at future deficit budgets, we really don’t want local businesses to have to bear the burden of that,” said Creasey.

“It’s crystal clear: deficits don’t fund future investment. Stability is key from our members’ perspective.”

Minister Horner also spoke on the Heritage Savings Fund, pointing out it’s grown from about $16 billion in 2019 to $32 billion. It’s projected to reach $150 billion by 2050, assuming the UCP’s current budget policies were to continue being followed.

Horner said the government also prefers to not dip into it to reduce the deficit.

“Debt is a valuable tool. It can help you grow in lean years and plan long-term. I don’t have a path to balance in this budget, but our plan goes much beyond a three-year budget cycle,” he said.

Creasey said the Heritage Fund is about reinvestment, adding that it’s smart to not draw on it.

“The current investment strategy to put money back into the Heritage Fund and not just drain it, it’s a future-forward focus,” he said.

Horner commented on a number of other items.

He said funding for widening of the QEII Highway at Maskepetoon Park is not in this year’s budget, and he noted that while Alberta is the youngest or among the youngest provinces in Canada, demographics-wise, it’s also becoming older the quickest.

Red Deer-North MLA Adriana LaGrange was on hand, and noted that 1-in-7 Albertans is over the age of 65, but in 20 years, that ratio will be 1-in-5.

Also present was Red Deer-South MLA Jason Stephan, who was answering a question about making Westerner Park more sustainable.

Stephan noted he is part of a group working to change restrictions which currently allow Edmonton and Calgary to limit which types of shows (ie. concerts) can come to the Marchant Crane Centrium. He said there are currently radius restrictions holding Westener Park back from fully harnessing the type of entertainment options it can bring in.

Also in attendance was Red Deer Mayor Cindy Jefferies.

She says municipalities were told by Horner last year that they should temper their expectations for the budget, knowing it would be a challenging one.

“There’s a number of good things that are happening in the region, but of course we all hope for more because we have pressures with increased costs and infrastructure needs, and we’ve had a number of years of grant reductions from both provincial and federal levels of government,” she stated.

“Municipalities are doing their best to meet current needs, but I would say the track we’re on is not sustainable. We’ve talked about the need provincially, and when I say we, I mean big cities, rural municipalities, mid-sized cities, have talked about the need for a conversation about how could we fund municipalities in a different way, that better meets the needs and provides that sustainable funding, predictable funding, and helps to deliver the services and infrastructure that Albertans want and need.’

Jefferies believes there could be an increase to property taxes if the government follows through on increasing the amount they requisition from municipalities for education.

by Josh Hall

Budget views shared in meeting with finance minister and Chamber members

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