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Alberta

Premier Smith keeps foes in cabinet posts. Red Deer’s Adriana LaGrange remains Education Minister

Published

2 years ago

4 minute read

Premier announces new cabinet

Alberta’s Premier has announced her new cabinet, with a focus on ensuring Albertans’ interests and priorities are well represented.

Twenty-four members of the Government of Alberta’s cabinet are being introduced to Albertans in advance of their taking the oath of office.

The new cabinet represents a strong mix of rural and urban MLAs from every geographic region of the province, each of whom the Premier recognizes as a strong advocate for their community and province. They are committed to standing up for Albertans, growing our economy and addressing affordability.

Joining the Premier and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs in cabinet are:

  • Deputy Premier and Minister of Skilled Trades and Professions – Kaycee Madu
  • Deputy Premier and Minister of Infrastructure – Nathan Neudorf
  • President of Treasury Board and Minister of Finance – Travis Toews
  • Minister of Jobs, Economy and Northern Development – Brian Jean
  • Minister of Justice – Tyler Shandro
  • Minister of Health – Jason Copping
  • Minister of Energy – Pete Guthrie
  • Minister of Environment and Protected Areas – Sonya Savage
  • Minister of Technology and Innovation – Nate Glubish
  • Minister of Affordability and Utilities – Matt Jones
  • Minister of Municipal Affairs – Rebecca Schulz
  • Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors – Devin Dreeshen
  • Minister of Public Safety – Mike Ellis
  • Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation – Nate Horner
  • Minister of Forestry, Parks and Tourism – Todd Loewen
  • Minister of Trade, Immigration and Multiculturalism – Rajan Sawhney
  • Minister of Education – Adriana LaGrange
  • Minister of Advanced Education – Demetrios Nicolaides
  • Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction – Dale Nally
  • Minister of Indigenous Relations – Rick Wilson
  • Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services – Jeremy Nixon
  • Minister of Children’s Services – Mickey Amery
  • Minister of Mental Health and Addictions – Nicholas Milliken
  • Minister of Culture – Jason Luan

“I am thrilled to being working with this strong, determined, united group of MLAs. Alberta’s future is bright – but there’s a lot of work to be done. Our team will work every day to gain your trust, make bold changes and continue to build the most innovative, entrepreneurial and welcoming province in the world. I want to thank our entire team for their tireless dedication to Albertans and we’re looking forward to the days ahead.”

Premier of Alberta

Caucus leadership positions will include:

  • Whip (Minister without portfolio) – Brad Rutherford
  • House Leader (Minister without portfolio) – Joseph Schow
  • Deputy House Leaders – Kaycee Madu, Mickey Amery, David Hanson

Ministers will be assisted in their work by the following parliamentary secretaries:

  • Parliamentary Secretary for Ukrainian Refugee Settlement – Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk
  • Parliamentary Secretary for EMS Reform – RJ Sigurdson
  • Parliamentary Secretary for Rural Health – Tany Yao
  • Parliamentary Secretary for Economic Corridors – Shane Getson
  • Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism – Miranda Rosin
  • Parliamentary Secretary for Agrifood Development – Glenn van Dijken
  • Parliamentary Secretary for Multiculturalism – Devinder Toor
  • Parliamentary Secretary for Status of Women – Tanya Fir
  • Parliamentary Secretary for Community Outreach – Muhammad Yaseen
  • Parliamentary Secretary for Procurement Transformation – David Hanson
  • Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business – Martin Long

New government committees will be chaired by:

  • Economy and Affordability Cabinet Policy Committee – Jason Nixon
  • Alberta First Cabinet Policy Committee – Garth Rowswell
  • Social Services Cabinet Policy Committee – Searle Turton
  • Building Communities Cabinet Policy Committee – Pat Rehn
  • Legislative Review Committee Chair – Jason Stephan

Treasury Board members will include:

  • Travis Toews
  • Matt Jones
  • Nate Glubish
  • Rebecca Schulz
  • Devin Dreeshen
  • Jordan Walker
  • Rick Wilson
  • Nathan Neudorf
  • Pete Guthrie

Cabinet members will be sworn in on the morning of Monday, Oct. 24 at 11 a.m. and will then begin receiving briefings from their departments.

Related Topics:

This is a news release from the Government of Alberta.

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Alberta government should eliminate corporate welfare to generate benefits for Albertans

Published on May 2, 2024

By

From the Fraser Institute

By Spencer Gudewill and Tegan Hill

Last November, Premier Danielle Smith announced that her government will give up to $1.8 billion in subsidies to Dow Chemicals, which plans to expand a petrochemical project northeast of Edmonton. In other words, $1.8 billion in corporate welfare.

And this is just one example of corporate welfare paid for by Albertans.

According to a recent study published by the Fraser Institute, from 2007 to 2021, the latest year of available data, the Alberta government spent $31.0 billion (inflation-adjusted) on subsidies (a.k.a. corporate welfare) to select firms and businesses, purportedly to help Albertans. And this number excludes other forms of government handouts such as loan guarantees, direct investment and regulatory or tax privileges for particular firms and industries. So the total cost of corporate welfare in Alberta is likely much higher.

Why should Albertans care?

First off, there’s little evidence that corporate welfare generates widespread economic growth or jobs. In fact, evidence suggests the contrary—that subsidies result in a net loss to the economy by shifting resources to less productive sectors or locations (what economists call the “substitution effect”) and/or by keeping businesses alive that are otherwise economically unviable (i.e. “zombie companies”). This misallocation of resources leads to a less efficient, less productive and less prosperous Alberta.
And there are other costs to corporate welfare.

For example, between 2007 and 2019 (the latest year of pre-COVID data), every year on average the Alberta government spent 35 cents (out of every dollar of business income tax revenue it collected) on corporate welfare. Given that workers bear the burden of more than half of any business income tax indirectly through lower wages, if the government reduced business income taxes rather than spend money on corporate welfare, workers could benefit.

Moreover, Premier Smith failed in last month’s provincial budget to provide promised personal income tax relief and create a lower tax bracket for incomes below $60,000 to provide $760 in annual savings for Albertans (on average). But in 2019, after adjusting for inflation, the Alberta government spent $2.4 billion on corporate welfare—equivalent to $1,034 per tax filer. Clearly, instead of subsidizing select businesses, the Smith government could have kept its promise to lower personal income taxes.

Finally, there’s the Heritage Fund, which the Alberta government created almost 50 years ago to save a share of the province’s resource wealth for the future.

In her 2024 budget, Premier Smith earmarked $2.0 billion for the Heritage Fund this fiscal year—almost the exact amount spent on corporate welfare each year (on average) between 2007 and 2019. Put another way, the Alberta government could save twice as much in the Heritage Fund in 2024/25 if it ended corporate welfare, which would help Premier Smith keep her promise to build up the Heritage Fund to between $250 billion and $400 billion by 2050.

By eliminating corporate welfare, the Smith government can create fiscal room to reduce personal and business income taxes, or save more in the Heritage Fund. Any of these options will benefit Albertans far more than wasteful billion-dollar subsidies to favoured firms.

Authors:

Spencer Gudewill
Policy Analyst, Fraser Institute
and
Tegan Hill
Associate Director, Alberta Policy, Fraser Institute
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Alberta

Official statement from Premier Danielle Smith and Energy Minister Brian Jean on the start-up of the Trans Mountain Pipeline

Published on May 1, 2024

By

Alberta is celebrating an important achievement for the energy industry – the start-up of the twinned Trans Mountain pipeline. It’s great news Albertans and Canadians as this will welcome a new era of prosperity and economic growth. The completion of TMX is monumental for Alberta, since this will significantly increase our province’s output. It will triple the capacity of the original pipeline to now carry 890,000 barrels per day of crude oil from Alberta’s oil sands to British Columbia’s Pacific Coast.
We are excited that Canada’s biggest and newest oil pipeline in more than a decade, can now bring oil from Edmonton to tide water in B.C. This will allow us to get our energy resources to Pacific markets, including Washington State and California, and Asian markets like Japan, South Korea, China, and India. Alberta now has new energy customers and tankers with Alberta oil will be unloading in China and India in the next few months.
For Alberta this is a game-changer, the world needs more reliably and sustainably sourced Alberta energy, not less. World demand for oil and gas resources will continue in the decades ahead and the new pipeline expansion will give us the opportunity to meet global energy demands and increase North American and global energy security and help remove the issues of energy poverty in other parts of the world.
Analysts are predicting the price differential on Canadian crude oil will narrow resulting in many millions of extra government revenues, which will help fund important programs like health, education, and social services – the things Albertans rely on. TMX will also result in billions of dollars of economic prosperity for Albertans, Indigenous communities and Canadians and create well-paying jobs throughout Canada.
Our province wants to congratulate the Trans Mountain Corporation for its tenacity to have completed this long awaited and much needed energy infrastructure, and to thank the more than 30,000 dedicated, skilled workers whose efforts made this extraordinary project a reality. The province also wants to thank the Federal Government for seeing this project through. This is a great example of an area where the provincial and federal government can cooperate and work together for the benefit of Albertans and all Canadians.
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