Spotlight Staff
Albertans are invited to offer suggestions to shape the provincial budget for 2018.
Ideas will be accepted by Feb. 2, 2018, says information on the Government of Alberta website.
“Responsible choices need to be made in Budget 2018 to lower the deficit and put Alberta back on the path to balance,” says Finance Minister Joe Ceci.
“It’s now time to focus on a path back to balance the budget while protecting public services important to Albertans such as health and education – and continuing to diversify our economy to create more jobs.
“We want to know what you think these choices should be.”
Budget 2018 will be an important step on the path to balance, he says.
“We’ve already made compassionate, thoughtful and responsible choices to reduce spending,” Ceci says.
Among them: reducing salaries, bonuses and perks for executives, freezing management (non-union) salaries since 2016 and extending the freeze to September 2019 and reducing travel and discretionary spending.
“These choices will help us meet the deficit target from Budget 2017,” Ceci says.
Tough economic times appear to be over.
“Alberta’s economy is looking up – retail sales are up, construction is up, drilling activity is up and jobs are up, too,” Ceci says.
“We’ve boosted our growth forecast twice this year – Alberta’s economy is now expected to grow by 4 per cent in 2017.
While not every Albertan is feeling it and there’s more work to do, the recession is behind us.
Ideas may be expressed by completing the online survey at gov.ab.ca.
Written submissions may also be filed by email to budget.feedback@gov.ab.ca.