Here are Official Opposition Leader Raj Sherman’s remarks in response to the Speech from the Throne.
Mister Speaker, as I give my response to yesterday’s Speech from the Throne, I am going to be very honest.
• Much of what I am going to say today will not be welcomed by those members of this House who serve in the current government.
• But I feel it is of vital importance to speak the truth about the problems we face in Alberta – and how the current government has failed to deal with them.
• So in advance, I say sorry if the truth I speak today is bruising to their egos.
• Now, I want to start my response to the Speech from the Throne by recognizing the positive aspect of it.
• I say aspect – in the singular – very deliberately…
• ...because after sitting through yesterday’s very dull and unimaginative speech…
• ... and after reading it very carefully, I could find only one good thing to say about it, and here it is:
• Finally, this government admits that there is a revenue problem.
• You know what they say, “Even a stopped clock tells the correct time twice a day,” so the current government was bound to get at least one thing right.
• So this aspect of the speech was good, and I congratulate the Premier on admitting there is a revenue problem, and now I encourage her to take the truly liberal strategy of progressive taxes to fix it.
• I encourage the Premier to follow the lead of the Official Opposition and to introduce the Fair Tax system we unveiled on Monday, which sees no increase in the rates paid by 90% of Albertans – but would raise income taxes on larger corporations and those with taxable incomes of more than $100,000 a year.
• This is just one of the many bold and visionary measures we announced on Monday which have the province buzzing.
• The Premier hints at tax change, and I hope she will follow our lead by increasing the larger corporation rate from 10 to 12%, while leaving small and medium sized businesses alone.
• I also hope she follows our lead and only increases tax rates on the top 10% of Albertans – because heaven knows the 90% who don’t earn six-figure taxable incomes are being squeezed enough already by this current government.
• There is one area where the current government squeezes everyone equally.
• Seniors; those living on AISH; small, medium and large businesses; families – all Albertans are feeling the squeeze when it comes to power bills.
• The Throne Speech didn’t mention electricity deregulation once, and it’s easy to see why: It has been an abject failure.
• It is time for smart changes to the system which will cut Albertans’ power bills and protect us from profiteering power generators and transmitters.
• This government should follow our lead and increase the powers and resources of the market surveillance administrator so we can have open, efficient and competitive marketplaces.
• Follow our lead and create new rules allowing utilities to save on generation and pass those savings on to Albertans.
• Follow our lead and get rid of these laughable fines which actually make it profitable for power companies to distort the market – it is time to bring in penalties that match the magnitude of the offense.
• Follow our lead on this.
• Another of the many ways Albertans are being squeezed is through school fees.
• School fees are nothing but a tax on families. Pure and simple.
• It is one of the most regressive taxes imaginable. Now, I can understand taxing cigarettes. I’m a doctor, after all, so I see the value in that.
• But taxing education? Why tax education as though it’s a pack of smokes? It just doesn’t make sense.
• We believe education should be properly funded instead, and that school fees should be eliminated. It seems a lot of Albertans agree with us, too, and I encourage the current government to follow our lead.
• This government should also stop squeezing post-secondary students.
• Follow our lead and create endowments out of our growing resource revenue so that by 2025 post-secondary tuition will be free.
• As a first step, follow our lead by capping and lowering tuition for undergrads by $250 immediately.
• Mister Speaker, it is not just our people who are being squeezed by the current government.
• Our cities, towns and neighbourhoods need a new deal.
• We call on the government to follow our lead by delivering new funding through the establishment of a Municipal Heritage Fund, which would begin providing and creating stable, sustainable funding to local governments and creating long-term infrastructure solutions.
• Follow our lead and draft city charters for Edmonton and Calgary so they will have the powers they need to tackle their own unique challenges.
• Follow our lead and directly fund neighbourhood associations across the province with 25% of the Municipal Heritage Fund’s earnings, which will enable citizens to turn their neighbourhood priorities into reality.
• This government would be well-advised to follow our lead and reinstate community lottery boards. This would put an end to politicians using this money to throw perks around.
• Follow our lead and get politicians out of this process, so that spending priorities reflect the needs of communities.
• Perhaps most disturbing of all is the fact that our seniors are being squeezed by the current government.
• Right now, in Alberta – the wealthiest province in Canada – many seniors have to ask, “Can I afford this bath today?”
• They have to ask this question because of this government’s shameful record of underfunding home care.
• Our seniors – who only get one paragraph in the Throne Speech – built this province, but the current government won’t provide the funding needed to keep senior families together and to keep these families in their homes.
• This government should follow our lead and double the funding of home care so this stops happening.
• This government should follow our lead and increase the supply of non-profit community based lodges and non-profit long-term care beds, too.
• Follow our lead by increasing the quality of all long term care, requiring on-site Registered Nurses and by enacting guarantees of service to ensure a proper level of care.
• And for heaven’s sake, please follow our lead and embrace the principle that senior couples should not be split up because of health or financial needs.
• Mister Speaker, our health care system is also being squeezed by the current government.
• It is interesting that in five paragraphs on health care, it talks twice about publicly-funded health care but not once about publicly-delivered health care.
• Is privatization being considered?
• This current government would do better to follow our lead instead and fix our healthcare system.
• I just discussed the neglect of our seniors, and it is this neglect that is impacting the health care system overall.
• We need more long-term care beds so that seniors are not languishing in hospital beds – which in turn leads to cancellations of surgeries and congested emergency rooms.
• This leads to our paramedics spending too much of their time waiting with patients for a bed to come open – and not enough time getting back on the road to answer the next 911 call for help.
• Follow our lead and fix this problem; follow our lead and guarantee surgery and emergency wait times; follow our lead and get every Albertan a family doctor and wellness team.
• Mister Speaker, as I mentioned earlier, yesterday’s Throne Speech was very dull and unimaginative.
• With all of the problems facing our province, Albertans had the right to expect a Throne Speech with vision and thoughtful proposals.
• Instead, all the current government could manage to offer was a tedious hour-long drone of clichés, platitudes, and stale slogans.
• The reason for this is really quite simple.
• This current government is old, tired, and out of ideas.
• It is also very many years removed from the time when it was a force for solutions.
• It is now simply the source of our problems.
• This is subliminally acknowledged near the end of the Throne Speech through lines like these:
• “It will revitalize publicly funded health care services to increase access and suit an aging population with diverse needs.”
• Who brought our health care system to such a state of disarray and dysfunction that it needs to be revitalized in the first place?
• This current government.
• Another line: “It will revamp Alberta’s education system so all graduates can hit the ground running and contribute more effectively than ever.”
• Who brought our education system to such a sorry state that we have the highest dropout rate in the country then?
• This current government.
• Here is another revealing line: “History has shown us that short-term focus can result in long-term problems.”
• Indeed. The past twenty years under this government prove this to be absolutely true. Once again, even a stopped clock tells the correct time twice a day.
• That line is followed by these: “Your government will address the root causes of problems, rather than just respond to symptoms. Albertans expect better and demand excellence.”
• Now the current government has returned to getting things wrong. This government is the root cause of problems in Alberta.
• Albertans do indeed expect better and demand excellence, and that is why the members opposite ought to be very, very, very worried.
• The current government is squeezing families through school fees.
• They are squeezing those who don’t earn six-figure taxable incomes.
• They are squeezing our cities, towns, and neighbourhoods.
• They are squeezing our healthcare system.
• They are squeezing our seniors.
• From womb to tomb, this government is the root cause of our problems.
• Mister Speaker, the current government is no longer a force for good in our province.
• And through the evasive jargon of the Throne Speech, one truth manages to shine through.
• It is time for this government to go.