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HomeNewsGrande Prairie area MLAs not surprised by latest budget

Grande Prairie area MLAs not surprised by latest budget

The budget tabled by Finance Minister Joe Ceci Thursday was light on surprises but heavy on spending. The deficit is projected to be $8.8 billion this year, less than the $10.4 forecast in last year’s budget.

$126 million for the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital was included along with $20 million for the Highway 43 Bypass project. Both items Grande Prairie-Wapiti MLA Wayne Drysdale calls no surprise and he says there’s still more needed for the bypass.

“That’s about half of it, I think it’s about $47 [million] total. That’s supposed to finish this fall.”

“There is big numbers for twinning and health care facilities,” he added, “and for school’s. But I’m not sure if we’re getting any yet.”

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Premier Rachel Notley did tease a school for the region while here for the CUPE Convention last week. All three school boards were unaware of the possiblity.

Education Minister David Eggen’s office confirmed he will be making a capital projects announcement tomorrow in Edmonton. There’s been no confirmation that there will be a Grande Prairie school in there yet both Drysdale and Energy Minister and Dunvegan-Central Peace-Notley MLA Marg McCuaig-Boyd have spoken with Eggen and were told to watch the announcement tomorrow.

Other priorities for many around the region include the twinning of Highway 40 and the Beaverlodge Hospital. McCuaig-Boyd says there was some engineering work done on 40 and is hopeful there could be “more to come” in the future.

“We’ve had accelerated capital spending in the downturn but now it’s maybe time to pull back on that a little bit. But I know those are very important projects and I advocate them both with the various ministers.”

UCP Leader Jason Kenney called the budget an “endless sea of debt” something Grande Prairie Smoky UCP MLA Todd Loewen echoes. He thinks it’s interesting that the NDP are now banking heavily on pipeline revenue to try to balance the budget by 2023 calling it “a pretty big gamble.”

Ceci touched on the Alberta tax advantage saying personal and corporate taxes are lower in Alberta than most other provinces. Loewen says the tax rates aren’t what he thinks businesses are concerned about.

“I think that a lot of it is the regulatory burden. That’s a big issue. It takes a lot longer to get approval for projects here in Alberta than elsewhere in the world where investors want to invest.”

When asked about a UCP shadow budget Wayne Drysdale said the UCP won’t be presenting one.

“We don’t have the staff and the department numbers. We’ve done it before in generalities but that just distracts from the real budget.”

This is the fourth deficit budget the NDP have run since taking power in 2015. Full budget details can be found here.

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