"Under Kenney, program spending has stopped in its tracks. In fact, it’s better than that. Kenney is on track to reduce annual program spending in Alberta by just over $650 million by the end of his term. If you convert that to real spending per person, Kenney is on track to reduce spending in Alberta by 15 per cent per person." - Super convenient not to mention that these cuts come on the backs of the poor, the disabled, students, doctors, nurses, education in the province as opposed to say...... large scale handouts to rich conservative corporate donors (conservatives tend to despise the poor even though many of them aren't exactly rich), a war room spending ridiculous money and being cartoonishly bad at what they do, way over paid MLAs and their staffers who double as twitter trolls; tax cuts to oil companies that in turn laid off thousands of people. I mean really, I know this writer is a conservative fan boy but at some point, you have to admit that this is a shit show of a government. I haven't even gotten to the entitlement and science denial yet.
My concern, as you’ve pointed out here, is that either party, UCP or NDP, could have achieved the balanced budget that now appears possible. Although money, taxes and the economy are central to any good conservative politician and voter, the ideological differences between the parties have solidly come to the forefront now and overshadow any budget accomplishment. If Kenney is planning to use this as something that boosts his popularity with Albertans, he may be surprised that Albertans want more than a balanced budget from him, especially if, as you suggest, Notley could have done the same. The ideological differences between the UCP and the NDP have significantly diminished, and he’ll have to become more conservative in his speech and actions than he currently is. The difference isn’t palpable enough for more conservative Albertans. He could start by addressing the sad state of AHS’s ability to meet the needs of the elderly and those requiring long awaited surgeries, and the harassment, undermining, and muzzling of Alberta doctors. He could also address the other money pit that exists in education. In both areas, front line workers are far outnumbered by levels upon levels of unnecessary administrators. And he could be the voice of freedom and choice, and respect Albertans as individuals who will make their own decisions in every part of their lives. Conservative Albertans don’t want Daddy Kenney telling them what to do, or not do. It’s time he brought back respect and autonomy. That’s what will bring him back to true Conservatism in Alberta.
So you note that Kenney could benefit from Notley's tweaks to our royalty system. Notley could make all kinds of hay about that in the next election, all while pointing out that Kenney's corporate tax cuts didn't actually create any jobs.
And Kenney might have a better case for getting re-elected if he didn't seem determined to score ever political own goal he could. Getting caught violating social distancing guidelines with his ministers during a meal at the politically radioactive Sky Palace. Ministers vacationing out of the country when the rest of us were told to stay put. Fighting the carbon price when Teck Frontier specifically cited our lack of a carbon tax as one of the reasons they decided not to build that big mine (with Preston Manning saying this is what he was warning about for years). Pissing off some of the most reliably conservative voters in the province with coal mining in the Rockies. A revised curriculum no school district wants to touch with a forty-foot pole. Seemingly not knowing that his Justice Minister called a police chief about the Minister's own traffic ticket until the CBC broke the story 10 months later.
Ken, I like and respect what you write, but… GOD, I hope you’re wrong here. I’m afraid the UCP is bankrupt, both morally and from a policy standpoint, too…
"Under Kenney, program spending has stopped in its tracks. In fact, it’s better than that. Kenney is on track to reduce annual program spending in Alberta by just over $650 million by the end of his term. If you convert that to real spending per person, Kenney is on track to reduce spending in Alberta by 15 per cent per person." - Super convenient not to mention that these cuts come on the backs of the poor, the disabled, students, doctors, nurses, education in the province as opposed to say...... large scale handouts to rich conservative corporate donors (conservatives tend to despise the poor even though many of them aren't exactly rich), a war room spending ridiculous money and being cartoonishly bad at what they do, way over paid MLAs and their staffers who double as twitter trolls; tax cuts to oil companies that in turn laid off thousands of people. I mean really, I know this writer is a conservative fan boy but at some point, you have to admit that this is a shit show of a government. I haven't even gotten to the entitlement and science denial yet.
My concern, as you’ve pointed out here, is that either party, UCP or NDP, could have achieved the balanced budget that now appears possible. Although money, taxes and the economy are central to any good conservative politician and voter, the ideological differences between the parties have solidly come to the forefront now and overshadow any budget accomplishment. If Kenney is planning to use this as something that boosts his popularity with Albertans, he may be surprised that Albertans want more than a balanced budget from him, especially if, as you suggest, Notley could have done the same. The ideological differences between the UCP and the NDP have significantly diminished, and he’ll have to become more conservative in his speech and actions than he currently is. The difference isn’t palpable enough for more conservative Albertans. He could start by addressing the sad state of AHS’s ability to meet the needs of the elderly and those requiring long awaited surgeries, and the harassment, undermining, and muzzling of Alberta doctors. He could also address the other money pit that exists in education. In both areas, front line workers are far outnumbered by levels upon levels of unnecessary administrators. And he could be the voice of freedom and choice, and respect Albertans as individuals who will make their own decisions in every part of their lives. Conservative Albertans don’t want Daddy Kenney telling them what to do, or not do. It’s time he brought back respect and autonomy. That’s what will bring him back to true Conservatism in Alberta.
So you note that Kenney could benefit from Notley's tweaks to our royalty system. Notley could make all kinds of hay about that in the next election, all while pointing out that Kenney's corporate tax cuts didn't actually create any jobs.
And Kenney might have a better case for getting re-elected if he didn't seem determined to score ever political own goal he could. Getting caught violating social distancing guidelines with his ministers during a meal at the politically radioactive Sky Palace. Ministers vacationing out of the country when the rest of us were told to stay put. Fighting the carbon price when Teck Frontier specifically cited our lack of a carbon tax as one of the reasons they decided not to build that big mine (with Preston Manning saying this is what he was warning about for years). Pissing off some of the most reliably conservative voters in the province with coal mining in the Rockies. A revised curriculum no school district wants to touch with a forty-foot pole. Seemingly not knowing that his Justice Minister called a police chief about the Minister's own traffic ticket until the CBC broke the story 10 months later.
Ken, I like and respect what you write, but… GOD, I hope you’re wrong here. I’m afraid the UCP is bankrupt, both morally and from a policy standpoint, too…
If the flat tax was "a massive tax cut to low and modest income Alberta families," what effect did it have on middle and high income Albertans?