While the state of the Canadian economy remains in flux — though figures vary, the International Monetary Fund cut projected growth in the country from 2.2 to 1.5 per cent in its July World Economic Outlook — the slumping price of oil is casting distinctly bleak outlooks when it comes to the Alberta economy.
The Province has “difficult choices ahead,” said Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci in a press release issued Aug. 31 — choices that come in the form of a deficit that will hit $5.9 billion.
Economic concerns have dominated election headlines, and the effect of the province’s downturn on communities like Airdrie led candidates running in the Banff-Airdrie riding to outline their plans to help kick-start an economy headed for recession.
“I think a lot of Albertans can see that our economy has been, since Alberta’s inception, it’s been tied very closely to the oil industry,” Green Party candidate Mike MacDonald said. “We’re looking at diversification as a way of smoothing out those bumps.
“We’re still in that cycle, where when times are good, money is rolling, and then the price drop and people are thrown out of work.”
Conservative Party candidate and Banff-Airdrie incumbent Blake Richards said initiatives like reducing red tape for small businesses and moving forward with the party’s low tax plan would help protect “a fragile economy.”
“I think, obviously, unfortunately a lot of the factors in the price of oil are beyond our control,” he said. “What you need to do is everything you can to encourage and set the conditions for the private sector to be able to grow the economy.
“What you don’t want to be doing is raising taxes, and talking about new kinds of spending, and putting us into deficit.”
NDP candidate Joanne Boissonneault said diversifying the economy in Alberta was a “priority.”
“We can’t just depend on oil and gas. It’s time to look at other sources of energy (such as) our mining (industry) and our forestry,” she said. “With (NDP leader Thomas) Mulcair, we will give billions of dollars back into forestry to create jobs in the west, and that is huge.”
Liberal Party candidate Marlo Raynolds said during the course of the election campaign, the number one concern he heard from voters in communities like Airdrie was “job security.”
“Now is the time to get those people back to work and catching up on some of the infrastructure that we know we need to build in Airdrie,” he said, noting projects like affordable housing and public transit as initiatives in the riding. “The interchanges off (Alberta Highway 2) is much needed.
“Now is the time to make those investments and build them. As the energy prices move back upwards, we can tail that off. That’s the kick-start to our plan.”
Unemployment, which is up to six per cent in the province, could be tackled through investing in training programs, according to Raynolds.
“(We can) reinvest in our retraining program, so that those that are losing their jobs in the trades have an opportunity to get back to school,” he said. “It makes them more employable when you’re laid off. It’s a great opportunity to get retrained.”
Boissonneault cited an NDP campaign promise to cut the small business tax rate in the country from 11 to nine per cent as an example of a way to lower unemployment rates.
“That will assist (small business owners) in creating new jobs and getting people back into working conditions,” she said. “As well as by getting corporations to pay taxes, that will come back to our communities.
“There’s so many pluses (that) work in favour of us, for all Albertans and all municipalities.”
Richards pointed to a Conservative campaign promise to cut payroll taxes by more than 20 percent in 2017 as an example of an initiative meant to reduce unemployment.
“A reduction in payroll taxes allows businesses to be able to keep more people on and hire more employees,” he said. “Raising payroll taxes would lead to more layoffs.
“One of the things that was very successful was the home renovation tax credit. That helps people to be able to invest in improving their homes, and that creates jobs and creates opportunities.”
MacDonald said the Green Party’s plan to increase the corporate tax rate to 19 per cent would help stimulate economic growth.
“If we can get a little more red on the revenue side, then that money can be reinvested back into stimulating the economy,” he said. “We’d like to get more feet on the ground, doing more green-type jobs, like renovating public and private personal spaces.
“That way, we’re killing two birds with one stone — getting people working and addressing some of the environmental issues.”
Concerning the debate surrounding balanced and deficit budgets, MacDonald said the Green Party would use increased corporate taxes to help fund infrastructure projects while balancing the federal budget.
“This is a bit of the remnant of Ralph Klein’s years (in Alberta), there was a massive infrastructure debt that was racked up. Airdrie is very familiar with that,” he said. “What we’re saying is, we tried this low taxes on the big guys and it doesn’t seem to be working. The trickle-down effect doesn’t seem to be happening.
“How about we have everybody pay their fair share, and then start addressing some of those concerns.”
Richards said deficit budgets would lead to higher taxes on Canadians.
“With the price of oil a concern in Alberta, with our economy, what is important to do is continue to work towards lowering taxes,” he said. “In Canada, (new jobs created and low taxes) is showing a low tax environment can help to encourage investment in the private sector.”
Boissonneault said an NDP government could affect change without going into deficit. “By taxing our corporations, and by dropping small (business) taxes, getting people out of poverty and giving back to the middle class, that will help us in our country, in our province and in our communities,” she said. “We don’t need to go into a deficit to do this. We can affect change without going into a deficit by working together as a team.”
The Liberal Party plan to run deficit budgets of up to $10 billion a year for the next three years would translate into solutions for infrastructure deficits in the province, Raynolds said.
“With the strong energy prices, we’ve had a good run, but at the same time we haven’t been able to keep pace at a provincial or municipal level with a lot of infrastructure needs,” he said. “We are being completely open with Canadians.”
The federal election will be held on Oct. 19.
