Phillips, Miyashiro slam budget for disregarding city
By Cal Braid - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on March 4, 2023.
Shannon Phillips, NDP MLA for Lethbridge-West, and Rob Miyashiro, NDP candidate for Lethbridge-East, tag-teamed as they took shots at Premier Danielle Smith and the provincial budget during a news conference at the Galt Museum Friday.“You know, like so many of us here in Lethbridge, I am truly disappointed by the provincial budget,” Miyashiro said. “Danielle Smith doesn’t care what matters to our community. This budget is also a brutal failure by the MLA for Lethbridge East, Nathan Neudorf, who’s also the infrastructure minister and the deputy premier. Somehow, he came back from Edmonton empty-handed.”
Miyashiro said it’s the job of the city’s MLAs to be the voice of Lethbridge in government, not the voice of government in Lethbridge.
Phillips affirmed Miyashiro’s introduction, and said Smith’s UCP has failed to deliver for Lethbridge.
“Let’s start on healthcare. We’ve been calling for a cardiac catheterization lab in the hospital for years. I called for it in the 2019 campaign. We met in late 2018 with the physicians who were advocating for it, and the NDP health minister at that time committed to work with them and with AHS on the project.
“This is critical, life-saving care, and I have spoken with our leader Rachel Notley about this need for new services at our Chinook Regional Hospital.”
Phillips said the expansion of cardiac and critical care at the hospital would remove the need to airlift patients elsewhere during acute cardiac events. She said AHS has a well-developed sense of the need and the costs, but the government is asleep at the wheel in terms of what small and medium-size cities need for healthcare.
Phillips pointed out that the five UCP budgets since 2018 have failed to expand critical heart health services at the hospital. She also noted the continuing lack of family doctors, and said Lethbridge is still not eligible for any of the rural physician initiatives.
On education, Phillips said the budget still leaves the city years behind on school building, and the UCP continues “to starve our university.” On housing, she said “not a single project in Lethbridge has advanced under the UCP. The only housing project in this budget is the one that was announced in 2018-19 by me.”
Cost of living was on her mind as well.
“Families are really up against many pressures. Prices for food, gas, insurance, and utilities have climbed faster than we’ve seen in 40 years, but under the UCP we have some of the slowest wage growth in Canada. In real terms, most people have gotten a pay cut.”
Phillips said the new budget will make life more expensive for everyone—right after the election.
“The utility rebates stop, The payday loans that they’re using to disguise the price of utilities come due. The gas tax snaps back on, and accommodation charges for seniors in continuing care—those also go up, right after the polls close.”
However, Albertans don’t have to stand for it, Phillips said, pointing to the upcoming election and an NDP plan that promises family doctors for everyone, a reduction in bills, and a resilient jobs economy that supports families in the community.
When asked about the UCP’s assertion at a Thursday Chamber of Commerce meeting that they’re making major investments in the school divisions and post-secondary institutions, Phillips said the incremental increase in transfers to post-secondary institutions province-wide is only 0.6 per cent.
“This is not an acceptable amount at all, given the inflation that we’ve seen and given the fact that we’re about a billion dollars in the hole of where we would have been if post-secondary funding had gone up simply by two per cent.” 2
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