Workers and families left out of Kenney’s plan
EDMONTON – Alberta’s largest worker advocacy group says the UCP’s new “Alberta at Work” program doesn’t actually give Alberta workers what they really need in these uncertain times.
“After three years in office, it’s clear the UCP government is not concerned about what Alberta workers need to thrive,” says Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour. “The UCP’s ‘Alberta at Work’ plan doesn’t include workers or their families.”
“Alberta workers are not asking for an expansion of charter schools. Alberta workers didn’t ask for underfunding of health care over the past three years. Alberta workers didn’t ask for a tax cut to large profitable corporations. Alberta workers didn’t ask for workplace safety rules to be cut or union advocacy to be stifled. Only wealthy employers asked for these things. Those are the people who Jason Kenney and the UCP listen to, not workers.”
“The corporate tax cut was supposed to create 55,000 new jobs – the UCP campaigned on that promise in the 2019 election. Today’s budget shows that this promise was a lie,” says McGowan. “Tax cuts to the wealthy did not create jobs and only resulted in a larger hole in our province’s finances, a hole Alberta workers and their families will continue to fill with higher personal income taxes, higher tuition, higher fees, and investments in public services that have not kept pace with inflation and population growth.”
“While a one-off bump from oil and gas revenues is welcomed, Albertans are not seeing the benefits. Shareholders and larger corporations are flush with cash, but jobs for Albertans haven’t flowed. Albertans own these resources, but they are not seeing full value,” says McGowan.
“Today’s budget is a missed opportunity for the UCP government. Workers, not profit-seeking corporations should be at the centre of any government’s thinking. Sadly, the UCP have shown that they are not capable of changing their priorities.”
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Ramona Franson
Director of Communications, AFL
rfranson@afl.org