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Laurie in Question Period

Savings and Investments

Ms Blakeman: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Government motions, bills, and budgets all show a confusing move to cut taxes at a time when there is precious little being added to savings. This is an example of the government choosing short term political and economic gain over longer term fiscal stability. My question is to the minister of finance. Can the minister explain why the choice has been made to jeopardize the future for Albertans by deferring savings at the same time that the government is reducing its tax revenue by billions of dollars?

Ms Evans: Mr. Speaker, in our budget this year we were quite proud to in fact do something that, in my understanding, the opposition totally supported, and that was relieving the responsibility of Albertans to pay the Alberta health insurance premium as of January 1. We chose to leave the money with Albertans.

Ms Blakeman: Well, yes, but you’ve also had a private member’s bill that was going to cut personal tax, and you have put additional bills forward that are also going to cut taxes, so you’re cutting taxes. The question: as the minister has invited Albertans to contribute their ideas for a savings plan, can the minister explain if this process has been formalized and what action will be taken on the recommendations that are brought forward?

Ms Evans: Mr. Speaker, I’m sure that anybody that listens to the debate today would wonder why anybody in the opposition would challenge us for reducing the amount that people would pay for looking after people that are elderly parents, for the caregiver, or for people who are getting disability credits in this year’s taxation. I’m actually dismayed that anybody would challenge those kinds of tax reductions as being irresponsible.

Ms Blakeman: You’re cutting taxes; you’re not saving.

Again to the same minister: when will this minister treat the heritage fund as the savings account that it was intended to be and stop withdrawing money out of it for use in the general revenue fund?

Ms Evans: Mr. Speaker, previously I’ve indicated that we will come forward with an investment and savings strategy, but to accuse this government of not saving money is to ignore that in the last three and a half years we’ve saved over $7 billion, that our surplus policy allocates a third of every bit of unexpected surplus into savings, that we inflation proofed our heritage fund at $279 million this year, and if oil prices and gas prices stay the way they are today, we’ll have even more for savings. We will bring forward a defined investment and savings strategy, but the current strategy is saving Albertans hundreds of millions, even billions of dollars.