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A year to go

With the release of Budget 2018 last week, the NDP are trying to cement their dominant message into the minds of Albertans before shifting gears into full-blown election mode in the coming months.

With the release of Budget 2018 last week, the NDP are trying to cement their dominant message into the minds of Albertans before shifting gears into full-blown election mode in the coming months.

The message is that, unlike the other parties, they’re willing to spend.

“When the global price of oil collapsed and the recession hit, we had a choice: cut or build. We chose to build,” said finance minister Joe Ceci March 22 in delivering the budget.

That is the same choice Albertans will face in the expected spring 2019 election.

With an $8.8 billion deficit this year and $96 billion in accumulated debt by the time the NDP are projected to reach a balanced budget in 2023 (incidentally before the next, next election), are we as a province ready to accept more red ink? Or are we prepared to lower our standards in health care, education and other services to 1990s levels?

Some consider the Ralph Klein era a golden age in Alberta’s history and their apparent answer is yes.

We don’t know what exactly the UCP will do differently because they haven’t released a detailed plan yet, but judging by leader Jason Kenney’s recent fawning over Klein, it’s reasonable to speculate deep cuts are involved.

And that may be the thing to do — ultimately it’s a difficult choice that Albertans are going to have to make.

In our resource-based economy we are beholden to the whims of the price of oil and that isn’t likely to change in the foreseeable future, regardless of which party is governing.

The NDP’s budget numbers rely heavily on the price of oil remaining steady as well as the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline to the west coast — both of which are up in the air.

The problem with the NDP plan is the fact there seems to be no clear path to eliminate the debt once it’s at nearly $96 billion in 2023.

Being riddled in debt isn’t a particularly pleasant option when looking into the future, but neither are severe cutbacks to health and education.

We’re going to hear a lot more about both in the coming months and come 2019 the choice will be ours.

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