[belsarius]

Originally Posted by Slava

Well aside from the fact I read the budget and know it went to general revenue, they were slatted for it :https://calgaryherald.com/business/e...urplus-by-2023

Basically, they claimed it was going to be revenue neutral and then moved the goalposts.

But planning on putting it into general revenue in the future is not just using it in general revenue the whole time. You disagree with the plan to use some in general revenue which is fair. But by the article the first $30/t was still going to specific projects and over that amount would go to support the general revenue to balance the books.

Alberta’s portion of the tax, which he puts at $30 per tonne, would still fund pollution-reducing initiatives, while the federal portion, anything above $30 per tonne, would go to general revenue.

The NDP carbon tax stays out of general revenue, the surplus caused by the Feds goes to general revenue. Isn't preventing deficit spending a big thing for you? I don't really understand why this is a knock against the NDP, if anything they are acting more conservative than progressive here. And again, this wasn't planned on starting until 2021.

Originally Posted by Slava

And as far as the jobs that’s a great feel good story. According to the Fraser Institute (I can hear the groans already!), government jobs increased by 21.5% over their term. https://www.fraserinstitute.org/site...s-recovery.pdf

Straight from the report page 5

art of the reason for the larger growth in government sector employment in this most recent period
(July 2014 to May 2018) is that the duration of growth
has been longer than the previous two periods.
However, if you consider just the first 11 months of
growth in the latest period—a comparable length
of time to the two previous growth periods—government sector employment still grew more in the
most recent period: by 11.3 percent compared to 8.2
percent from 2008 to 2009 and 8.8 percent from
2011 to 2012.

So now we are looking at an actual growth of 11.3% compared to non recession growth of 8.2% and 8.8%. Yes the NDP hired more people, not argueing that, but it is not as far from other periods as the 21.5% makes it look.

As well, this report is looking at Government jobs in Alberta, not just GoA jobs. So without having the breakdown of how many jobs were Federal/Provincial/Municipal/Crown Corp, then it's hard to pinpoint all of the hiring on just Notley. It's like trying to blame inflation completely on Justin. GoA did increase hiring but again it was focused on areas of need.

And this report is actually exactly why I agree with the NDP. In times of recession and low private investment, in order to keep unemployment low and prevent further recessionary trends, the government should step in to fund public works or increase public goods (such as education and healthcare). This report is meant to be scathing, and in the eyes of a Neoliberal economist it is. But to me it reads like a government stepping up to support it's people when the private sector can't or won't.