Dave Mabell
LETHBRIDGE HERALD
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For Lethbridge cabinet minister Greg Weadick, it was an exciting day at work.
Thursday's provincial budget not only included predictable funding for his advanced education ministry, but it also offered good news to plenty of his Lethbridge West constituents.
And there's more to come, he says - sweeping changes to the province's student loans system, with details Monday.
Premier Alison Redford's first budget, he added during an interview, shows the province is heading for a balanced budget - with a predicted $1 billion surplus in 2013-14. At the same time, it's providing stable, predictable grants for the province's colleges and universities.
"I think this is a really balanced approach for all Albertans," he said.
Weadick, formerly a member of Lethbridge city council, was also pleased to see the province's "municipal sustainability" grants to cities and towns will remain stable over a three-year period. With that predictable source of funding, he pointed out, Lethbridge can proceed with such needed projects as new ice arenas.
"That was very positive," he said.
Provincial funds will also continue to support such key projects as the new wing on Chinook Regional Hospital, he added. And there are more funds for people living with a developmental disability, and for staff at the non-profit agencies which help them.
At the same time, Weadick said, the province is supporting such new initiatives as three "family clinic" facilities in several cities, in addition to increased funding for "primary care" health services. If these pilot projects prove successful, he said southern Albertans could expect to see something similar here.
Within his own department, he said changes to the province's student loan system will be unveiled early next week - and they'll take effect in time to ensure more qualified men and women will be able to afford college and university education. Meanwhile, he said the education and advanced education departments are working on plans to ease the transition from high school to post-secondary education - encouraging more young people to stay in school.
Many campuses have recently announced new initiatives to attract First Nations, Metis and Inuit students, Weadick noted.
Speaking as a government supporter for her first budget - after seven years in Opposition ranks - Lethbridge East MLA Bridget Pastoor was also pleased by what she heard.
Long an advocate for disabled Albertans relying on an AISH cheque, she was happy to see the $400 per month increase announced Thursday. But there was good news for everyone, she said.
"People in Lethbridge will be happy there's no tax increases " despite rumoured hikes to the province's beer, wine, liquor and tobacco "sin taxes."
Members of city council -including her daughter, Bridget Mearns - should also be satisfied to see the province's MSI grants to municipal governments remaining predictable and stable.
"They'll be on a three-year budget cycle," just as city council is here.
In Lethbridge meanwhile, city manager Garth Sherwin applauded that announcement.
The city's budgets are predicated on that level, reliable grant structure, he pointed out.
"This is what we've been expecting," providing that the province's finances permit.
"I hope their predictions are accurate."
At the University of Lethbridge, however, political scientist Geoffrey Hale was less hopeful.
Hale said history shows Alberta's budgets, unlike most other provinces', are seldom accurate beyond the current year.
To start with, he questioned the budget's assumption that Alberta's economy will grow by 3.8 per cent over the next year. Almost every calculation can be overturned by outside events, he warned.
If Israel attacked Iran, for example, the price of oil would spike. But further economic distress in Europe could have the opposite effect.
And natural gas, once the province's most reliable source of income, shows no sign of recovering that position. Now, he said, the province relies very heavily on oilsands development.
"So much depends on what the province can get from its oilsands, without adequate pipelines to our major markets."
Even so, Hale expects many Albertans will see enough to like in the budget, to continue to back the Progressive Conservatives despite their 40 years in power. As leader of the more conservative Wildrose party, Danielle Smith faces quite a challenge.
"It will be hard for her to challenge Santa Claus, without appearing to look like the Grinch."