UCP needs to cut spending with debt set to surpass $70-billion over the weekend: Canadian Taxpayers Federation

CALGARY (660 NEWS) — The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is warning Albertans that every man, woman, and child will owe thousands of dollars to the provincial government if things continue as they are.

In a release, the CTF says Alberta’s debt is increasing $290 per second and will surpass $70-billion on Sunday. This means every Albertan owes the government more than $16,000 in provincial debt alone.

“Politicians have been fast and loose with the provincial credit card and it needs to stop,” Franco Terrazzano, Alberta Director for the CTF said.

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The Blue Ribbon Panel on Alberta’s finances show that spending in the province is the highest in Canada per person.

“We should be able to find savings in every single department,” added Terrazzano. “Specifically all corporate welfare needs to be scrapped, politicians shouldn’t be running around pretending they are investment bankers with taxpayers money.”

The UCP’s 2019 budget indicated an increase in total spending by $174-million between 2018 and 2022 and adding $30-billion to the provincial debt.

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The CTF has been pressuring the UCP to reduce its spending in health, but more specifically labour costs.

“We’ve seen that the government says it’s going to reduce labour costs in terms of putting notice that there might be cuts to government positions, and from the taxpayer perspective, we agree that labour compensation needs to go down,” Terrazzano said. “It’s time for Premier Jason Kenney to get serious about the debt and tackle the spending problem.”