Bill 15 – Appropriation Act, 2010
March 24, 2010
Mrs. Forsyth: Well, thank you, Mr. Chair. It gives me a great deal of pleasure to be able to stand up and debate and get on the record a few things in regard to the budget. I’m going to start off with the question that I asked in question period today to the Minister of Employment and Immigration and was somewhat ridiculed in regard to: are you spending or are you saving? You know, Mr. Chair, I’ve been around a long time in this Legislature, and sometimes that’s good news and sometimes it’s not so good news because it kind of ages you. I will tell you that my previous background was drug and alcohol counselling, so I feel that I know a fair amount about what’s going on with that particular area.
I can tell you that the fact of the matter is that six weeks isn’t long enough, and the southern Alberta group that is concerned about this knows that. They have professionals that deal with this. The minister spoke about the cost for the beds. Well, I can tell you that at the far end of it, it’s much more costly if we are having them incarcerated or if we’re having them in our health care system because of their alcohol or drug addictions and their mental issues.
You know, it’s like what’s been bought up before. It’s called prioritization. Let’s just talk a little bit about prioritization. I’m going to focus just on ministerial staff and minister’s budgets and exactly what’s happening in some of the budgets. There has to be some credit given to the government and not so much credit on the others. I’m just going to talk a minute – and I’m going to find my budget – about the minister’s office in regard to priorities. Priorities of the minister’s office is very interesting because if we look down the line at all of the ministers – for example, Aboriginal Relations’ minister’s office budget was flatlined. Advanced Education took a deduction, which I think is showing leadership, quite frankly. Agriculture stayed the same. Children and Youth Services stayed the same. Education stayed the same. Energy stayed the same. Finance stayed the same, which I find interesting from the Finance minister because he stood up in this Legislature talking about how he’s going to balance the books, and he can’t even do anything on his own budget. Health, Municipal Affairs, Tourism’s budget didn’t change whatsoever in the minister’s office. Transportation didn’t change whatsoever. So it was interesting.
I’m going to focus on setting priorities in this government. I’d like to talk just briefly for a minute on Executive Council. I just want to talk very shortly in regard to priorities of the Premier’s office in regard to their Public Affairs Bureau, which has stayed the same again, but the spending, which I find very fascinating, is on branding, which is $9.6 million last year and now is $7 million this year. I still can’t figure out what we’re branding and why we want to brand it and have never really ever been given any sort of rationale behind that so that I could say: “Yeah. I support that. We need to get Alberta branded.” Public Affairs Bureau: huge, $14.3 million. I could go on and on in some of those, you know?
The hon. member behind me talked briefly today about children’s services, and it was interesting to hear the debate in the House in regard to the description of cuts and not cuts. You know, Mr. Chair, I was a former minister of that department, had the honour and privilege of being the minister of children’s services for two years and, quite frankly, am quite appalled about what’s happening in the recent developments. I listened to my colleague behind me, and I don’t necessarily agree with the NDP all the time, but I certainly can tell you that she’s tenacious. She’s like a little dog with a bone when she gets on an issue. We talked about the times, the five days or the three days. Quite frankly, it’s irrelevant. The timing is irrelevant in regard to when this issue was brought forward.
As a minister of the Crown – and I was told that under the previous leader – you are responsible for what happens in your department. That particular ministry is 24/7. We spoke in estimates. We talked about some of the things. You know, I’m getting all sorts of e-mails right now in regard to the CEO of region 6, and I want to put that on the record. I had the honour and privilege of working with that particular individual when I was minister, and he’s an upstanding employee. I always found that his heart was in the right place, and his number one priority was always the children in this province.
For someone to say that there haven’t been any cuts in the ministry, if you go to the minister’s budget, no. But then you have to start digging deeper down in regard to region 1, region 2, region 3, region 4, and all the way through. What’s always fascinated me is the fact that, you know, it was pointed out to us today about the foster care support, but if you go to region 6 and see the cuts there, it’s beyond my comprehension, quite frankly. When I spoke to the minister in estimates, I asked her about her own ministerial budget and asked her why at that particular time she didn’t show initiative or, quite frankly, leadership in making cuts within her particular budget.
You know, there are a whole bunch of things that can be questioned in this budget. We talk about the oil and gas. I found that conversation always very fascinating when I was previously a member of the government and for two and a half years was speaking to the previous Minister of Energy about all of my concerns, what was going on in this royalty report. I have hundreds of pages, actually three file folders full of documentation that I sent to that particular minister at the time, saying: “Please don’t do this. Think about what you’re doing.” I have kept that because I think it was important.
I had many conversations with the previous Minister of Energy, and we had some good conversation, and I know he got it. He got what was happening in this province and what was happening to the oil and gas industry. I appreciated the fact that he took the time. You know, I put a group of people together the December of I guess it would have been ’08, and they drove down to meet with him. There was a group of them that I’d put together right from the big businesses to the small business to voice their concerns about what was happening.
Two and a half years, Mr. Chair, and the government finally wakes up, and they say: “Hmm. Maybe we made a mistake on the royalty, and maybe we realize all of the money that’s leaving this province, going to B.C. and going to Saskatchewan. Oh, wait. We’re losing investor confidence. Where’s that going?” Two and a half years later they all of a sudden wake up. They have this competitive review, and they say: “Gee. We get it.” There is not an MLA in Calgary that doesn’t realize the potential and the devastation that has happened in that economic engine of the oil and gas sector and not only in Calgary; it’s all the way through. I mean, I have a son that started off as a rig pig. He would phone me, and he’d say: Mom, I’m in wherever. I’d say to him: where is that? So he would explain it to me. I think we forget about all of the things that we’ve been doing, particularly in the regard that they’re using their hotels; they’re using the gas. [interjection] It’s a little hard to try and focus when you’ve got several conversations going on around you, quite frankly, Mr. Chair, including one of my own colleagues.
An Hon. Member: It’s your own member.
Mrs. Forsyth: Yes, I know. And all that they’re doing to these small towns in Alberta. You know, they’re eating in the local restaurant, they’re in the motels sleeping, they’re gassing their trucks up, they’re having a beer in the local bar, and all of a sudden that’s drying up all over the province. So finally the government saw the light. Two and a half years later they saw the light, which is two and a half years too late.
Now they think they’ve saved it, but the haven’t dealt with the royalty curves. That’s very important. They have to get investors’ confidence back in this province in that regard. The Energy minister can hobnob with all of the people that they want, but I think that, you know, in any relationship it’s building trust back and getting those particular individuals onside. For me it’s just priorities, and that priority was lost somewhere in regard to all of the things that were happening.
Mr. Chair, while this budget is going to go through because the government has a majority and we’re three of us, we want to get on the record what we consider – and we’ve been ridiculed again on our balanced budget, but I think it’s important to talk about priorities. It’s not our priorities, as in the Wildrose caucus. It’s Albertans’ priorities and what Albertans are telling me.
It’s been a fascinating process from sitting in government to coming over to a member of the opposition and something that I never dreamed in a million years, being elected since 1993, would be where I thought I would be. Quite frankly, after a lot of soulsearching and thinking about who am I exactly serving and why am I here and who am I responsible for, it was very clear to me that the constituents of Calgary-Fish Creek and, quite frankly, the constituents of Calgary and – let’s go one step further – the constituents of this wonderful province that I love so much weren’t being listened to. I could give you 101 examples. I could give you 101 examples of waking up in the morning and finding out about decisions that the government has made virtually without any caucus input. I’d be more than willing to put those on the record also. Mr. Chair, we want a budget that reflects the prioritization of Albertans and what Albertans have clearly articulated are their priorities. I can tell you that there has not been one person in this wonderful province that has come to me and said: “Yes, you need to spend $7 million on branding. That’s important for Albertans.” Nine point six million dollars the year before. I want to say, Mr. Chair, that I appreciated having the time to be able to speak.
Thank you.
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