EDMONTON - In advance of the provincial budget, Public Interest Alberta released its own budget priorities document to promote a just recovery for all Albertans. After nearly two full years of a pandemic that has rocked healthcare, education and public services across the province, now is the time to reinvest in a recovery for Alberta families starting with a budget that puts people at the center of fiscal and economic policy.
“There is no doubt that times are incredibly hard for everyday Albertans. Not only are we experiencing the economic shock of the second year of life under the pandemic, but now we are beginning to feel the squeeze of record-breaking inflation,” said Bradley Lafortune, Executive Director of Public Interest Alberta. “This government has left far too many Albertans behind and with this budget they have an opportunity to reinvest in people and a just recovery for all.”
Public Interest Alberta’s budget priorities document, “A Just Recovery for All” outlines nine priority areas for this budget so that Alberta can finally chart a course for an economic recovery for the many not the few:
- Reinvesting in public services and reversing privatization
- Revenue reform
- Persons living with disabilities
- Childcare and Early Learning
- Investing in Housing
- Public Education
- Post-Secondary Education
- Seniors
- Anti-Racism
“Having worked with dozens of organizations, advocates, and individuals with lived and living experience from across the province, Public Interest Alberta is providing the provincial government with a ready made road map for the future,” said Lafortune. “There are things the government could do today which would immediately address long-standing policy failings that contribute to inequality in our province.”
“Budgets are about choices. So far, the Kenney government has shown that they will choose the bottom line of the corporate elite over the lives and dignity of Albertans,” said Lafortune. “With the fiscal picture on our province getting brighter, the province must seize this massive opportunity to place Albertans at the very center of our economic and social policy by reinvesting in a just recovery for all.”
