Alberta
Alberta Budget 2021 Highlights
Maintaining responsible spending
Budget 2021’s responsible approach to spending will mean more investment in priority areas like health care, education and job creation.
Budget 2021 is built on 3 fiscal anchors:
- Keep net debt below 30% of GDP to help protect future generations from rising debt servicing costs.
- Deliver services more cost effectively by bringing spending in line with other comparator provinces.
- Re-establish a plan to balance the budget post-pandemic when a more stable level of predictability returns to the budgeting process.
Getting back on track
Operating expense
- In 2021–22, operating expense is $1 billion higher than 2020–21 forecast and begins to normalize, remaining relatively flat over the next 2 years.
Deficit
- $18.2 billion deficit is targeted for 2021–22, $2 billion less than the 2020–21 forecast.
- $11 billion and $8 billion deficits are targeted for 2022–23 and 2023–24 respectively.
Declining deficit can be attributed to decreasing expense as:
- the costs of the pandemic subside
- the government works to streamline and modernize service delivery
- revenue increases as the economy recovers
Budget 2021 funding highlights
Budget 2021 provides funding of:
- $23 billion for health services
- $8.2 billion operating expense for kindergarten to grade 12 (K to 12) education services
- $6.3 to $6.4 billion operating expense for social services ministries
- $136 million over 3 years for the Alberta Jobs Now program
- $166 million over 3 years for the Innovation Employment Grant
- $500 million in 2021–22 for additional investments in economic recovery
Investing in health care
Alberta’s government is increasing Health’s budget by over $900 million (or 4%) to $23 billion, and that’s excluding the impact of COVID-19.
- $5.4 billion for physician compensation and development (including academic medicine)
- $3.5 billion for community care, continuing care and home care programs, including $20 million over 4 years for palliative and end of life care
- $1.9 billion for drugs and supplemental health benefits.
- $34 million for children’s health supports to expand mental health and rehabilitation services for children and youth
- $140 million over 4 years for mental health and addiction services
Continuing the fight against COVID-19
Budget 2021 invests in continued supports to protect Albertans as we enter the second year of the pandemic.
- $1.25 billion COVID-19 Contingency to address health-care costs for responding to the pandemic, including surgical wait times and backlogs
- This is in addition to $2.1 billion spend in 2020-21
Getting health care back on track
Budget 2021 invests $16 billion for Alberta Health Services operations. Includes:
- Alberta Surgical Initiative
- Continuing Care Capacity Plan
- CT and MRI Access Initiative
Investing in health care capital
Budget 2021 commits $3.4 billion over 3 years for health related capital projects and programs, providing:
- $2.2 billion for health facilities, with $143 million for 5 new projects
- $766 million for Alberta Health Services self-financed capital, for parkades, equipment and other capital requirements
- $343 million for capital maintenance and renewal of existing facilities
- $90 million for health department IT projects
Preparing for recovery
Alberta’s Recovery Plan is a bold strategy to create jobs that get people back to work, build infrastructure and diversify our economy. This includes the acceleration of the Job Creation Tax Cut, which creates employment opportunities by making Alberta one of the most attractive jurisdictions in North America for new business investment. Budget 2021 will spend an additional $3.1 billion in 2021–22 to continue supporting recovery plan strategies.
Budget 2021 invests $1.7 billion more in capital funding in 2021–22 than what was planned in Budget 2020.
The 3-year Capital Plan now totals $20.7 billion and will support more than 50,000 direct and 40,000 indirect jobs through to 2024.
Diversifying the economy
In 2021–24, $1.5 billion invested in Alberta’s Recovery Plan.
Budget 2021 invests in established and emerging sectors that hold the greatest potential for growth and job creation, and are fundamental to our economic recovery including: energy; agriculture and forestry; tourism; finance and fintech; aviation, aerospace and logistics; and technology and innovation.
Economic recovery spending highlights
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- Innovation Employment Grant supports small and medium-sized businesses that invest in research and development
- Developing framework to protect intellectual property in Alberta
- Investment and Growth Strategy supports emerging sectors while building on our existing strengths
- Invest Alberta provides supports and services to drive up investment and showcase Alberta as the best place in the world to do business
From LifeSiteNews
A draft version of a forthcoming Alberta Bill of Rights provided to LifeSiteNews includes a provision beefing up parental rights, declaring the ‘freedom of parents to make informed decisions concerning the health, education, welfare and upbringing of their children.’
The United Conservative Party government of the province of Alberta is anticipated to soon introduce a new “Bill of Rights,” a current draft of which includes a provision that would cement parental rights as “God-given.”
LifeSiteNews was recently provided exclusive access to a draft version of the “Alberta Bill of Rights” from a source well connected with the ruling United Conservative Party (UCP).
Included in the draft bill is a section titled, “Freedom of parents to make informed decisions concerning the health, education, welfare and upbringing of their children.”
The text of the draft version, which is still subject to change, reads that the “Government of Alberta, on behalf of its citizens,” must acknowledge that the “freedom of parents to raise their children is sui generis – independent from legislation, not flowing from it – it precedes government.”
“It is a government’s duty to respect that familial boundary until children reach the age of majority. Parents have an obligation to provide for the basic health, education, and welfare of their child as they exercise custody and authority,” reads the bill.
The text then reads that the “state shall not target parents nor interfere with parental rights on the basis of religious or social standing, nor on the basis of fiscal status provided that parents are demonstrably providing for the necessities of their children.”
“No officer or agency of the government, including any subdivisions, shall infringe on a parent’s freedoms except as demonstrably necessary on a case-by-case basis as provided by law, such steps to be narrowly tailored to meet a compelling government interest by the least restrictive means,” it states.
“Remedial provisions shall be provided for the intentional interference of parental freedoms by governments, organizations or individuals.”
The text concludes with a sentence affirming that “Family is in the best interests of a child.”
It is expected that the UCP government in Alberta will introduce its new “Bill of Rights” this fall. The bill contains a slew of pro-freedom proposals, including, as reported by LifeSiteNews, enshrining the “right to life” into law, including from “conception, gestation in the womb.”
The bill also includes, as reported by LifeSiteNews, a section that guarantees each citizen has the “right” to medical “informed consent” as well as the “right” to “refuse vaccinations.”
While the UCP source told LifeSiteNews that the draft version of the bill is subject to change, the source also said it is hoped by all of those who worked on it that the final version will not include many changes.
According to the source, the draft version of the Alberta Bill of Rights was created by a “small group writing it in secret and consulting with lawyers” as well as elected MLAs and cabinet members of the UCP government.
It is not yet clear just how much of the bill has the support of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, leader of the UCP. She promised last year, as reported by LifeSiteNews, to enshrine into “law” protections for people in her province who choose not to be vaccinated as well as strengthen gun rights and safeguard speech by beefing up the provincial Bill of Rights.
She has also said that parents should be primary caregivers of their children, and earlier this year announced what is the strongest pro-family legislation in Canada, protecting kids from life-altering so-called “top and bottom” surgeries as well as other forms of transgender ideology.
However, Smith’s view on the traditional nuclear family is at odds with the views of many conservatives, including many who support the UCP. As reported by LifeSiteNews last month, Smith noted, in a wide-ranging interview with Jordan Peterson, that conservatives should “modernize” their view of what the nuclear family looks like, including homosexuals “couples” seeking to obtain children.
From the Frontier Centre for Public Policy
By Ray McGinnis
During the trial, RCMP officers described what they found as “pipe bombs” in the Tony Olienick’s Claresholm, AB, property after his arrest. They alleged that these were to be used for a dangerous purpose. During the Coutts Blockade, the “explosive” device remained on Olienick’s property, a two-hour drive away.
On August 2, a Lethbridge jury found Chris Carbert and Tony Olienick not guilty of the most serious charge of conspiracy to commit murder of police officers. However, both were found guilty of possession of weapons for a dangerous purpose.”
After the verdict, Newsweek reported “documents obtained under an Access to Information and Privacy Act request showed that the RCMP had been profiling protesters by running license plates through databases, then focusing in on those who possessed federal gun licenses.”
Possession of a Weapon for a Dangerous Purpose
Olienick’s lawyer, Marilyn Burns told this reporter of the charge, “I have not found a case where the charge of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose has not been twinned with an act of murder, violence.” This section of the Canadian Criminal Code, she explained, “has two categories: “dangerous purpose for the public peace” or for “another criminal act.” The charge brought by the Crown against Carbert and Olienick was for “possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose” being “dangerous for the public peace.”
Tony Olienick didn’t have any weapons while he was standing outside of Smugglers Saloon at the time he was arrested. He had a rifle and a 22, and had moved them from his truck to the trailer. There were several guns in the trailer Chris Carbert was sleeping in at the time of his arrest. However, when he came out of the trailer to be arrested, he was unarmed. During the trial, it was confirmed it’s not illegal to have firearms in your camper trailer. It’s legal to have firearms for self-defence in your camper trailer to defend yourself against a civilian intruder. No guns were seen in public. Carbert, Olienick (and Lysak) snuck the guns into the trailer when no one saw them to make it safe – so nothing would happen accidentally to someone in view.
What was the Dangerous Purpose?
Chris Carbert’s lawyer, Katherin Beyak, summarized, “The evidence wasn’t there for Chris needing to have a firearm for self-defence at the blockade, that evidence just didn’t come forward. That’s why I’m trying to figure out what the dangerous purpose was. Other than, perhaps, the jury didn’t think there was a valid purpose for having a firearm at the protest. I don’t know, and we can’t ask them (the jury).” Asked about the jury decision, Beyak said the jury decision may have been “more of a statement that this was supposed to be peaceful, and you shouldn’t have had firearms there.”
The message from this verdict to Canadians may mean even if you are unarmed, you shouldn’t have firearms in the vicinity of a municipality where there is a protest.
Explosive Witness Testimony
The jury also found Tony Olienick guilty of possession of explosives for a dangerous purpose.
Brian Lambert, a sandstone quarry owner and colleague of Olienick, testified at the trial. He described an explosive device, nicknamed “firecrackers” in the business, he observed Olienick use years ago. Lambert testified Tony Olienick use these “firecrackers” to dislodge stone that would get sold and repurposed for construction. Olienick’s father served as a peacekeeper in the Canadian Armed Forces in Cypress. A stone quarry in southern Alberta occasionally got drill bits stuck in the stone. Olienick’s father created an explosive device with plumbing pipe, ordinary gunpowder, and a fuse that can be purchased at a hobby store. It was used to dislodge drill bits from a stone. After he died, the “firecracker” device was gathered up by Tony Olienick along with other items from his father’s estate. The son moved it onto his property. While the late Mr. Olienick had a permit to use the device, his son didn’t renew the permit for the explosive device.
Marilyn Burns, lawyer for Tony Olienick, relates the RCMP went through everything to find that device in a pile of other belongings of her client’s late father. During the trial, RCMP officers described what they found as “pipe bombs” in the Tony Olienick’s Claresholm, AB, property after his arrest. They alleged that these were to be used for a dangerous purpose. During the Coutts Blockade, the “explosive” device remained on Olienick’s property, a two-hour drive away.
A Warning
One takeaway from the jury verdict: if you go to a protest, make sure any explosive device you have at your property has a permit. Otherwise, even if the device in question is a two-hour drive away, you could be found guilty of possession of explosives for a dangerous purpose.
This commentary is second of a three part series. Read part one here, and three here.
Ray McGinnis is a Senior Fellow with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. His forthcoming book is Unjustified: The Emergencies Act and the Inquiry that Got It Wrong
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