“Albertans are depending on their political leaders to respond to the worldwide economic downturn with policies that protect working people and their families from the worst impacts of the recession," said Gil McGowan, President of the Alberta Federation of Labour, at a news conference on April 3.
"Klein-style cuts are clearly not the answer. We went down that road during the last recession and we know that it just made a bad situation worse."
Heather Smith, president of the United Nurses of Alberta, says that sectors like health care are just now starting to recover from the damage caused by years of cuts under former premier Ralph Klein and she says if Albertans value their public services, we can't afford to return to policies that caused such pain and chaos.
"The downturn in the economy may actually be creating an opportunity to address the chronic shortage of nurses and other health care workers that has been plaguing our system," Heather Smith said. "But that can't happen with a shrinking budget or even a hold-the-line budget."
“Some say that the shortage of nurses in our health system is over. But it's not. The change in the economy may be creating an opportunity to recruit more nurses,” Heather Smith said.
The report shows that job losses and bankruptcies are already up dramatically in Alberta and predicted that "Alberta is likely to suffer the greatest downturn in GDP growth of all the provinces in Canada." It also showed that the Alberta government has among the greatest "fiscal capacity" in North America to finance a stimulus package.
Public Interest Alberta launches campaign with poll 69% of Albertans want investment in health, education and services Public Interest Alberta has released polling results showing Albertans want their government to invest in public services. PIA released the poll at the same time as it launched a new "Invest in Albertans" campaign.
"Our new Environics public opinion poll clearly shows that two-thirds of Albertans want the government to play an active role in dealing with the economic situation and not just sit back and support the old 'leave-it-to-the-market' approach to the economy," PIA's executive director Bill Moore-Kilgannon said at a news conference launching the campaign www.investinalbertans.org.
The poll showed 69% of Albertans believe "investing in healthcare, education and other public services" is the most important thing for the Alberta government. Only 27% said "cutting royalties and measures to support the energy industry" was most important. |
