An Ideological Debt Situation
Recently- in the Legislative Assembly, I moved an amendment to the NDP government's Bill 10. This bill among other things takes the lid off of the amount of debt the government can legally assume on the behalf of Albertans. The government has included in their budget the clear intention to run Alberta's debt up to nearly $60 billion by the next election with no intention to make a single payment against the principal until at least 2024. They also admit annual interest payments on this debt will reach $2 billion by 2019 and that's without paying one on the principal. Within an hour of the NDP voting down my attempt to keep a cap on borrowing Standard and Poor's downgraded Alberta's credit rating yet again, this time from AA+ to AA. The NDP's ideological commitment to uncontrolled debt in the name of providing services is in stark contrast to what Alberta families do. Families control spending and pay their bills.
The Official Opposition's finance critic on the other hand advocates for no debt at any time for any reason. By this logic, we would have to teach our kids under a tree and do surgery in the parking lot until we could pay cash for schools and hospitals. This ideological extreme does not serve Alberta very well either.
Our PC caucus has been trying to inject common sense conservative principals into the discussion. We believe debt is a tool to be used responsibly. Borrowing for a school, hospital or seniors home over 20 years is okay if the infrastructure will last at least twice that long and a credible plan is in place to pay back all of the money. Further it is a very conservative principal that those who pay for the infrastructure are the ones who can choose to use it. That is like living in a home while paying the mortgage. Just common sense.
This latest credit downgrade will mean additional borrowing costs for every municipality in Alberta, farm credit facilities and the government itself. We hope it will not damage ATB as well. Please join us in encouraging common sense fiscal policy for Alberta.
For more information on our efforts and how you can help, please go to www.abpcmla.ca
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