Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
But that's not the issue. The issue is how to narrow to enormous gap that has opened between government revenues and government spending. A balanced approach is to increase taxes while also cutting spending. And when we cut spending, once we're past the ever-popular 'cut waste', we have to decide whether to cut A) capital spending on infrastructure, B) the breadth of services offered (classrooms and hospital beds), or C) public salaries, which make up the bulk of operational spending.
Personally, I would be reluctant to cut A because we still have huge infrastructure needs to catch up to this province's rapid growth, and infrastructure projects create jobs without committing to ongoing spending. I would be reluctant to cut B, because again, we're still catching up on the growth of the province. I would favour C, but not to the extent that those cuts make it difficult to attract qualified teachers, nurses, etc. I happen to think public sector salaries in Alberta today are quite a bit higher than market rates, so they could be cut (or frozen) without a significant reduction in the quality of service.
Or I suppose we could take the Ontario approach and just keep running massive deficits and let our kids sort out the mess in 20 years, probably through draconian cuts and sweeping privatization.
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And I think we are going to see C, but through freezes, not cuts. Management salaries have already been frozen for almost a year now. Word out of the teachers union is to expect a fight as the government wants to keep salaries the same for the next contract. AUPE just completed their contract so they have a few years before anything can be done.
The thing is I don't believe the public salaries are higher than market rates. Alberta still enjoys the highest weekly earnings of any province in the country, even with an 8.5% unemployment rate. Per capita the public service is expense but compared to the mean salary they are on par with other jurisdictions. Debt to pay expenses for the next 10 years would be disastrous, for the next 3 or 4 I think is acceptable to keep the economy growing.