How many more promises can a premier break?
Looks like the "promised personal income tax cuts will have to wait"
Published February 29, 2024 in The Sherwood Park News (Print Edition)
In the 2023 election, the UCP promised 'Tax cuts for all Albertans'.
They promised to lower provincial income taxes and create a new eight percent tax bracket for personal income earned under $60,000. With this policy, annual take home pay would increase by a few hundred dollars for many Albertans.
However, last Wednesday, the government paid for a special TV broadcast so Premier Smith could let us know the "promised personal income tax cuts will have to wait". She said her government needs to reassess because they did not plan for softening oil prices and they will need to show restraint.
Smith promised to fix healthcare in 90 days when she first became premier in October 2022. I don't think anyone actually believed she would. It clearly has not happened. She also promised in the 2023 election that no one would touch our pensions. That was a lie. Two weeks ago, the Minister of Finance held a press conference to provide an update on the UCP's path forward to pull Albertans out of the Canada Pension Plan, even though leaving the CPP is an incredibly unpopular idea with the vast majority of Albertans.
Smith also used her TV broadcast to let us know that while the cost of everything is going up and our population is growing in Alberta, the government's aim with this year's budget is to limit spending on the "wants of today." You may 'want' access to reliable healthcare, world-class education for our children, help fighting wildfires, clean water and clean air, but the premier says these are nice-to-haves not need-to-haves.
Instead of picking fights with transgender youth, picking apart Alberta Health Services, or gambling with your retirement security, I wish Danielle Smith and the UCP would pick a direction forward for our province that is honest, constructive and aligned with most peoples' priorities.
During Premier Smith's TV address, I wish we heard a comprehensive plan to support superb public healthcare. Healthcare that is dependable when and where we need it.
I hoped we would have heard the premier talk about bold investments for public education, K-12 and post-secondary. Investment in education is a worthy use of non-renewable resource revenue and the greatest generator of opportunity for Albertans.
I had (faint) hope that the premier would have used her TV address to announce the end to her ban on renewable energy projects and an honest plan about how we are going meet her repeated public commitment to have a carbon-neutral economy in Alberta by 2050.
But we didn't hear about these priorities. We just heard that the UCP government has broken one more promise. How many more promises can a premier break? Stay tuned to find out.
Kyle Kasawski is the MLA for Sherwood Park. If you have questions about this column or any provincial issues, he would like to hear from you. Find his contact information at meetkyle.ca