What Albertans save in taxes they lose in reduced services

The so-called ‘Alberta Advantage’ for most people in that province, is an illusion.  Other than the wealthiest residents, what people save in taxes in Alberta they lose in reduced public services and new out-of-pocket expenses.

• Alberta ranks last among the provinces in per capita public health expenditures.  The major health care problems in Alberta are the result of Federal government cutbacks compounded by severe budgetary cuts and closure of public health facilities by the  Klein government.
  

• Alberta families pay health premiums of $68 a month or $816 per year.  Nearly one-quarter of Alberta’s health care insurance plan holders are behind on their payments.  An estimated 123,000 accounts are in arrears, which could amount to $120 million.   Collection agencies are chasing nearly 40% of those bad accounts.
  

• Funding for public programs in Alberta, which at one time was the highest in Canada, is now at or below levels in the poorest Atlantic provinces.   Albertans now spend more per capita on private health care expenditures and more in post-secondary tuition.
  

• The ‘Alberta Advantage’ has not translated into concrete gains for the majority of working people in the province.
  

• In Alberta, women earn only 67.5% of what men earn; the lowest ratio of female-to-male earnings in the country.
  

•  Recent research indicates that Alberta’s recent growth, and B.C.’s economic downturn have little to do with public policies in either province.  Rather, the economic ups and downs experienced by each province reflect international commodity prices and the demand for Alberta’s  major exports in the U.S.; oil and natural gas.
  

•   All this in one of the wealthiest provinces in Canada.  Shame on you Mr. Klein.  #             

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