October has been an exciting and full month for our government. The fall session began on October 8, and we are planning to introduce more than a dozen pieces of legislation. One in particular is foundational for our economic future as a province, the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation Act. My colleague the Minister of Indigenous Relations, Rick Wilson, has worked hard on this legislation and it will be game-changer in ensuring shared prosperity with Indigenous communities through the providing of backstop funding and loan guarantees for Indigenous communities involved in energy projects.
We also introduced our first budget on October 24. The MacKinnon report showed that Alberta has a massive spending problem, and that we spend over $10 billion more than Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia for our programs, without better results. But we have taken steps to ensure that health care and education funding remained the same, with critical projects such as the Calgary Cancer Centre proceeding on time with full funding. All told, our budget has spending reductions of three cents on the dollar, or 2.8%. We fully funded enrolment growth in our education system, ensuring that every student that walks into our schools gets the same level of funding as last year, and we increased the budgets for several ministries that provide social services to those in need, such as Community and Social Services and Children’s Services. All told, it is a budget that will return our province to balance and get us off the path of trajectory to $100 billion in debt from the previous government.
I also had the pleasure of attending many events in Calgary – Peigan. It is an honour to be your MLA and a privilege to speak to you about your concerns and questions. My door is always open to you.
