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Alberta’s NDP is like a really bad tattoo one drunken night

Wetaskiwin writer says NDP record dismal, history will not judge kindly
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Dear editor,

Currently, Albert’s debt stands at $42.5 billion. According to the Alberta NDP’s plan, this debit is set to climb to $96 billion by 2023. Rachel Notley has proclaimed that the budget will balance by 2023 and we will start paying down this almost 12 figure loan! Our debt servicing costs amount to $1.4 billion alone this year.

To put this into perspective, the interest that we pay on this debt this year is larger than four ministries in this province put together: Indigenous Relations ($190 million), Labour ($223 million), Culture and Tourism ($381 million), and Service Alberta ($511 million). By the time 2023 rolls around, we will be paying $3.7 billion for debt servicing! According to this year’s budget, this amounts to seven ministries combined, making it the fourth largest ministry today, only behind Health, Education, and the Climate Leadership Plan.

Can you tell me how many decades it will take for us to pay down this debt? I have a quote that comes to mind, “What we do in life, echoes in eternity” ‐ Maximus Decimus Meridus (Gladiator). It is obvious that the NDP has decided to sacrifice and bankrupt our future for photo‐ops and a catchy slogan that is the answer to all questions they do not want to answer in the Legislature. Anyone of us could go around this province with a $85 billion loan declaring, “Making life better for Albertans.” The writing is on the wall. Rachael Notley and the NDP know that they will no longer be in government to deal with the fall out of their horrific fiscal policies in 2019. Simply put, the NDP’s scorched earth policy will clearly bankrupt our province unless we stand for fiscal prudence and common sensibilities knowing that it is our children that will have to “pay the piper”.

As Alberta’s elevated capital spending continues to weigh on Alberta’s budget and debt, one more credit downgrade and we will be on par with Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island. The irony is too great to bear, when Quebec receives $11 billion in equalization payments and plans on a $2.8 billion surplus in 2018‐19 (Financial Post, March 29, 2018) and we are strapped with a $8.8 billion deficit.

My husband simplifies government to one phrase, “We elect people to government for the sole purpose of spending our money wisely.” Although I find this definition too simplistic as policies play a very large role in how our province is govern, no one talks about how this debt will be repaid. The ruinous reign of the NDP party in four years will take a vibrant, self‐sustaining economy and ensure that we will be paying for the next two to three decades for the decision we made in May 2015. I explain to my children that the election of the NDP in 2015 is like a really bad tattoo that you got one drunken night and will be dealing with the consequences for decades to come.

I guarantee you that history will not judge the NDP kindly.

Sandra Kim, Wetaskiwin