RAJESH ANGRAL

RAJESH

ANGRAL

Month: April 2023

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#ableg

Bet on Albertans: Todd Hirsch’s Fiscal Strategy for the Alberta NDP

Rachel Notley will implement this forward-looking report

It’s been a tough few years in Alberta. Years of recession, two major oil-price collapses, 40-year high inflation and a global pandemic have tested our province to the limit.

But Albertans are resilient, hard-working and entrepreneurial. We never give up.

Now, in 2023, the fiscal situation in Alberta has improved without any intentional government action. Thanks to high energy prices, Alberta has again been blessed by extraordinary surpluses and we are back at the top of the proverbial rollercoaster.

This presents us with a generational opportunity to stabilize our province’s finances and build a more resilient economy.

But we need to act now.

Last fall, Rachel Notley enlisted Todd Hirsch, one of Alberta’s most prominent and insightful economists, to advise on how the surplus should best be used to benefit Albertans.

Todd Hirsch was ATB’s Chief Economist for more than two decades and has also spent nine years teaching public finance at the University of Calgary.

After more than 37 interviews with economists, business and labour leaders, and public servants, Todd presented a report with eight concrete recommendations to help the Government of Alberta design a thoughtful fiscal strategy:

  • Government should assign a fixed amount of non-renewable resource revenues (adjusted annually for inflation) that will be apportioned for base budgeting purposes.
  • Government should consult with Albertans, and consciously determine a goal and purpose for the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund.
  • In the absence of a constructive and thoughtful plan, debt repayment should be the default option for all surplus funds.
  • The Government of Alberta should maintain the outer bound maximum net debt/GDP ratio of 30 per cent as a fiscal anchor.
  • The government should establish a strong, credible and sustainable financial plan that will guide both revenues and expenditures.
  • Alberta Treasury Board and Finance should maintain an updated model on the return on investment in three areas: debt repayment, savings and capital investments in physical assets.
  • In years when total revenues and resource income exceeds expenditures, apply a fixed formula for how these surplus dollars should be allocated.
  • A portion of the surplus should go into fixed endowments, to benefit Albertans in perpetuity.

Rachel Notley and the Alberta NDP have accepted these recommendations in full.

We recognise that it’s time to get off the royalty rollercoaster and build an economy that creates good-paying jobs, now and for generations to come.

We need a government that is thoughtful, deliberate, disciplined and forward-looking—and that’s exactly what the Alberta NDP will deliver.

Todd’s final, unofficial recommendation is this: bet on Albertans. That’s a message we can all get behind.

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#ableg

Alberta has an entrepreneurial spirit and bright, creative minds. We also have a healthcare system in need of serious help after 4 years of damage. By simplifying access for smaller innovators we create the opportunity to do something ground breaking. Building better. #AbLeg

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#ableg #abecon

A better future is in sight, but it’s going to take every single one of us to make it happen. Can you chip in to help us beat Danielle Smith’s big corporate donors? #ableg #abpoli #ABetterFuture

Chip in to our Election Campaign Victory Fund today

This is it. The battle for a better Alberta is here.

Together, we can deliver change for Alberta families and end Danielle Smith’s chaos once and for all.

But to propel our people-powered movement to victory, we need you to chip in everything you can to help us beat the UCP’s big corporate donors one last time.

The future of our province is at stake—don’t miss this chance to be part of history in the making

Help put Rachel Notely back in the Premier’s office!

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#ableg

Rachel Notley will put an end to Danielle Smith’s plot to hijack your Canada Pension Plan

We will protect your pension.

Retirement is supposed to be focused on spending time with your families and loved ones.

But if Danielle Smith gets her way, she will play politics with your pension and could pull Alberta out of the Canada Pension Plan, risking millions of Albertans retirement security.

As well, in 2019, the UCP introduced Bill 22 with no consultation. The legislation dramatically restructured how public pensions were governed, affecting the retirement security of hundreds of thousands of Albertans.

It’s time for better leadership when it comes to your pension. We will legislate the protection of the CPP, by passing a law preventing any Alberta government from leaving the plan.

An Alberta NDP government will:

  • Stay in the Canada Pension Plan
  • Expand Private Workplace Pensions
  • Reform Governance of Public Sector Pensions Plans

The Alberta NDP will protect your pension.

Remaining in the CPP will save hundreds of millions dollars that Danielle Smith would be forced to spend to start up and operate an Alberta-based pension plan.

From the pipeline technician who heads out in -40C, to the teacher who burns the midnight oil to plan the next day’s lessons, you and your neighbours work hard to keep our economy moving and create a province in which the next generation of leaders and innovators can thrive.

You deserve to know your retirement is secure, and you can count on that security with Rachel Notley and the Alberta NDP.

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#ableg #abndp

Rural Broadband

Ending the digital divide……

For four years, we’ve seen the UCP make promise after promise that they can’t keep.

The UCP promised to have shovels in the ground to finally start the long overdue work on broadband internet, and years later they have spent less than they promised and no construction has started.

In today’s world, internet access is a necessity.

Because of the UCP’s broken promises, life has become more expensive and more difficult for farmers, ranchers, parents, kids, teachers, and local business owners who need reliable internet.

Nearly two hundred thousand households in Alberta don’t have access to high-speed internet. We have a digital divide in our province.

An Alberta NDP government will deliver universal broadband access to ALL Albertans by 2027.

Having access to the internet is absolutely essential to our economic future.

Ending the digital divide will spur the creation of nearly 20,000 new jobs and $4 billion in GDP.

No more UCP failures and excuses.

It’s time for action.

Each area of the province has unique needs and we believe local residents know what’s best for them. We will work with Albertans in rural communities to get the job done through the Broadband Advisory Group.

By working together, we can ensure that broadband is deployed quickly, efficiently, and in the most cost-effective way because access to high-speed internet is not a luxury, it is a necessity.

It is essential for our businesses, our agricultural operations, our students, and our communities.

Rachel Notley and the Alberta NDP are committed to a better future for each and every Albertan, in each and every corner of the province.

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Uncategorized

“The question will be whether voters believe what she says now, or what she said before. It’s a toss-up, frankly, because she was so specific and passionate about her earlier prescription for user-pay health care.

Premier Danielle Smith needs Albertans to believe she didn’t mean many things she said in the past. Her voluble history is a serious danger to the UCP in the coming election campaign.

This forces her to govern against some of her own core beliefs. The most striking example came this week, when she announced the UCP’s “Public Health Care Guarantee.”

The question will be whether voters believe what she says now, or what she said before. It’s a toss-up, frankly, because she was so specific and passionate about her earlier prescription for user-pay health care.

On Tuesday, the premier said: “The UCP is committed to all Albertans that under no circumstances will any Albertan ever have to pay out of pocket for access to their family doctor or to get the medical treatment that they need.

“It means that a UCP government under my leadership will not delist any medical services or prescriptions now covered by Alberta health insurance, no exceptions.”

She repeated this several times, topping it with: “Rest assured, you will never use a credit card to pay for a public health care service. You will only ever need your Alberta health care card.”

To make the point, the premier stood beside a big sign showing the card most of us carry around.

Smith said the NDP is “lying to Albertans” and engaging in “fear and smear” when they accuse her of threatening universal public payment.

But Smith herself sowed some of that fear with great conviction, and not just in throwaway lines on talk radio.

She wrote it all down in a 2021 policy paper for the University of Calgary. Her full article was published along with those of other participants under the title Alberta’s Economic Future.

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#ableg #abvote

“Rural Municipalities of Alberta president Paul McLauchlin fears the UCP government is determined to pursue a provincial police force despite polling showing the idea has little general support.”

Rural Municipalities of Alberta president Paul McLauchlin fears the UCP government is determined to pursue a provincial police force despite polling showing the idea has little general support.

Fewer than one in four rural Albertans believe the province should set up its own police force, according to a recent University of Lethbridge poll.

The online poll had 1,470 respondents, including 505 identified as rural. Among the rural contingent, 54 per cent disagreed or strongly disagreed with a provincial police force and nearly 23 per cent did not agree or disagree. Only about 23 per cent agreed or strongly agreed with putting provincial police in uniform.

The Rural Perceptions of Policing in Alberta poll was conducted by the university’s Prentice Institute for Global Population and Economy and the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA).

Asked whether the RCMP should be dissolved in Alberta, 76 per cent disagreed and less than nine per cent agreed. Fifteen per cent were neutral.