Red Deer-Mountainview MP Earl Dreeshen says Alberta’s production and environmental expertise in oil and gas have once again been overlooked in the federal budget.
“Despite numerous opportunities and potential for the government to support the growing demand for global oil and gas, our innovative and environmentally sound projects, which would provide secure and responsibly developed energy to the world, has been completely ignored,” Dreeshen said.
He applauded the government’s decision to move forward with Bay du Nord, Newfoundland’s offshore oil production project, but said bias against the industry continues. Instead, Liberals prefered to focus on new investments in critical minerals and metals for batteries to power electric vehicles.
“Very few people realize that for a 1,000-pound battery for an electric vehicle you have to displace 500,000 pounds of earth to get that to market. Those who think that all of these new technologies don’t have an environmental impact on their own are not looking at the whole picture.”
Related:
Federal budget will have the support of the NDP, but will also face opposition
He said the budget held nothing new for farmers who could play an important role in grain production during the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, Europe’s major grain producers.
“Agriculture has the same amount of greenhouse gases now as it did 20 years ago. The difference is we’re producing twice as much, so in effect, we’ve reduced our greenhouse gases by 50 per cent. We should be celebrating that. Instead, they’re looking at taking away the few tools we’ve been using to be this efficient.”
Dreeshen said the budget did not provide what Canadians actually need.
“There was failure in addressing crucial components such as controlled spending to control inflation, tax breaks for Canadians, and substantial action on increasing housing supply.
“This budget lacks a comprehensive and credible plan to turn our economy around and to repair Canada’s tarnished image as a safe and vibrant place to invest. We need to see a plan for growth, with targeted investments and policies to boost our productivity and improve our competitiveness in the global marketplace,” Dreeshen said.
Related:
Budget 2022: Flush from booming economy, Feds eye growth with $56B in new spending
Scott Robinson, Red Deer & District Chamber of Commerce CEO, said the budget failed small businesses that accessed government loans to struggle through the pandemic and could now use help with that debt as inflation rises.
“Although they provided the liquidity to keep them going, they’re now going to have to pay that back. It’s certainly a big challenge for a lot of businesses,” Robinson said.
He said the Liberals also could have used the tax code to provide benefits, or incentives, across the board.
“It’s not a budget focused on economic growth. It’s a budget that’s focused on social spending. That’s a big concern to us long term. We’ve got a lot of debt and that’s going to drag on the economy, and that affects everybody,” Robinson said.
Alberta Finance Minister Travis Toews said the province was concerned large federal deficits will continue to contribute to increased inflation, which is pushing up costs for families across Alberta.
He said it was encouraging to see increased incentives around carbon capture, utilization and storage technology, but the budget lacked a plan to boost business investment and long-term competitiveness in Canada.
“Alberta is poised to lead the country in growth this year, however this budget does little to promote business investment attraction, increase productivity and provide increased market access opportunities for Alberta,” Toews said in a statement.
The province was also disappointed that its calls for a permanent increase to the Canada Health Transfer continue to be ignored.
“The federal government has committed billions to boutique programs in this budget and has ignored the systemic gaps in health-care delivery across Canada – gaps that were exposed by the pandemic. Provinces are increasing investments from their own budgets.”
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter