Finance minister urges fiscal efficiency, innovation at Chamber of Commerce meeting | Fort McMurray Today

Working efficiently and effectively will help the province provide more programs and services in the future, Alberta Finance Minister Travis Toews said, speaking at a Chamber of Commerce breakfast event Wednesday.

“This is a common sense approach that will mean more money in the long-term for programs and services,” he said. “It’s an approach that will invest in businesses and opportunities and initiatives to stimulate and grow our economy.”

Toews was in Fort McMurray to speak at a Chamber of Commerce event about the 2019 Alberta budget, released in late October.

Before looking at introducing a sales tax, Toews said there needs to be a focus on finding ways to deliver services in a new way.

“Right now, we’re not delivering efficiently and effectively to Albertans, we’re spending $10.4 billion more per capita per year and our outcomes are no better and in some cases even poorer than other provinces,” he said.

On Tuesday, it was reported that the Fort McMurray public and Catholic school divisions would see a combined loss of approximately $7.7 million in provincial funding.

Toews said education minister Adriana LaGrange is currently working on a new funding formula, which will “encourage shared services amongst school divisions” to optimize resources.

Additionally, Keyano College is looking at a reduction of approximately $744,000 from grants and funding from the province.

Despite the reductions to post-secondary schools, Toews said grants will still be higher then the average in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec, adding a limited lift on the tuition cap will also help with less reliance on government funding.

“This is a move to insure the sustainability of our advanced education delivery in the province. We have to not only think about today, but about the next generation.”

For municipalities, capital funding will be cut by nine per cent over the next two years; by $94 million in 2020-21 and another $142 million in 2021-22.

“As we as a province look to put a higher priority on our capital projects, municipalities will have to do the same,” said Toews. “It will require real prioritization.”

Answering questions from those in attendance, Toews said he believes the province’s long-term initiatives will attract investments to Alberta, creating opportunities for small businesses.

“Our job creation tax cut that drops corporate taxes from 12 to eight per cent over time will ensure the small businesses that are growing are not penalized for their growth and success,” he said. “For those small businesses that won’t be benefiting directly… they will benefit from the fact that we kept the small business rate low at two per cent.”

Currently, the budget does not have any new major infrastructure or transportation projects for the region. The few local projects mentioned were started by former premiers Rachel Notley or Jim Prentice.

However, Toews said that the capital plan will be reviewed and adjusted as needs emerge.

Councillor Verna Murphy said the RMWB will continue to lobby the government on important issues.

With the municipality’s own budget talks coming at the end of November, Murphy said council will be “thinking about tightening our belts as well” over the next few years.

“Especially some asset management, like with MacIsland and those things that we know are going to be bigger expenditures in the next couple of years, so we’re just going to be cognizant of that,” she said.

Murphy added she always encourages people in the region to approach council if they have needs, but said she doesn’t want to be overlapping with provincial responsibilities.

“In the last number of years when the times were good we took on lots of things that really should be sitting with the province, like the ice road and highway 69 and medevac,” she said.

“We’ve been trying to get them to take back those responsibilities, so I’d be very reluctant to take on other provincial responsibilities… whether it’s education, healthcare, those types of things really should be with the province.”

– With files from Vincent McDermott