MLA’s numbers not offering ‘the whole truth’
By Letter to the Editor on November 26, 2018.
Re: This economy needs a new mechanic, Drew Barnes MLA Report Nov. 16 In Alberta courts, a witness is required to swear an oath to the effect that “You swear that the evidence you give as touching the matters in question in this action or matter shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So help you God.” Politicians are always in the Court of Public Opinion. Why should they not be held to the same standard in this court as well? The UCP MLA for Cypress-Medicine Hat paints a grim picture of Alberta’s economy. The unemployment rate for October 2018 was indeed 7.3 per cent, an increase of 0.3 per cent over the previous month but he fails to mention that the rate is down from 7.6 per cent in October, 2017 and also that the average rate for January-October 2018 is 6.7 per cent, down from the average rate of 8.0 per cent for the same period in 2017. The MLA has committed perjury in the Court of Public Opinion by not telling the whole truth. He plays politics with the emotions of the electorate in his efforts to misinform Albertans about the state of their economy and unjustifiably insult the honest and sincere efforts of the NDP. The following are just a few of the numerous examples of positive economic indicators, further evidence that the MLA is guilty of not telling the whole truth, all of which are drawn from http://www.economicdashboard.alberta.ca except where otherwise indicated. Alberta has, by far, the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio of any province. For the fiscal year 2017-18, Alberta’s net government debt-to-GDP ratio was 6.5 per cent. The next lowest ratio was in British Columbia, where it was 15.2 pe cent (03/18/18 Dr. Nick Falvo, Research Associate Carleton University Centre for Community Innovation). In July 2018, job vacancies in Alberta increased by 20.3 per cent from the same month in 2017. In August 2018, average weekly earnings in Alberta were $1,156, up 3.2 per cent from the same period in 2017. Cattle prices in Alberta increased by 6.6 per cent in September 2018 compared to the same time period a year earlier, to $134.43 per hundredweight, the highest price in Canada. In September 2018, Alberta non-durum wheat prices were $256.60/metric tonne, 3.7 per cent higher than prices in September 2017. According to Statistics Canada’s latest productivity database, Alberta has the highest labour productivity level in the country. Fred Lewis Medicine Hat 14-13
Thanks Fred for pointing this out. We need to hear from a lot more Albertans about the lies these Reformers are spreading. The one still being believed in the Edmonton area by a lot of these ignorant seniors who are hell-bent on getting Jason Kenney elected is the one Klein fed reporters when he was asked why Alberta was broke and Alaska and Norway weren’t. He said it was because Alberta had been forced to send billions of dollars to Ottawa and Quebec in the form of Equalization payments. Alberta governments have never paid a penny to anyone in the form of equalization payments as us former bankers know. They come out of Federal Taxes and have nothing to do with provincial revenues, yet Brian Jean and now Jason Kenney keep bringing it up. Just one more lie to feed ignorant Albertans.
The University of Alberta’s Parkland Institute provided the answer as to why Alberta is broke with their studies “Giving Away The Alberta Advantage” and “Misplaced Generosity: Alberta set to forgo $55 billion in royalties over the next three years”. I hope all of you have read them. They were brought to my attention by a former MLA from the Lougheed era. The former MLAs that some of us have talked to over the years were furious with what Klein had done to us. Don Getty told me in 2003 that inviting Liberal Ralph Klein into the Conservative party was the dumbest thing he had ever done, and I certainly agreed.
yeah, I have personally dealt with this office and he does not deserve to hold his chair, Can’t wait for elections as I will follow him and ask him enough questions to make him look like an idiot, which should not be very hard.
This MLA, needs to have his balls roasted in oil (still attached).