Smith vs. Notley: Here are the leaders' promises to the municipalities ahead of the May election
CTV
Municipal leaders from across the province heard a lot of promises during the Alberta Municipalities Association Leaders’ Caucus on Friday.
Municipal leaders from across the province heard a lot of promises during the Alberta Municipalities Association Leaders’ Caucus on Friday.
Premier Danielle Smith and NDP Leader Rachel Notley both shared their party's vision for the province ahead of the spring election.
“We get such great feedback from these kinds of events so that we can hear what is on your minds, hear what’s working, hear what’s not,” Smith said.
Smith spoke about the 2023 provincial budget, highlighting how she believes it will address challenges in health care, education and improve infrastructure.
“But we’re not just spending more in critical areas, our budget is balanced,” she said. “We have a surplus, we’re paying down debt, we’re growing the Heritage Savings Trust Fund and we’re putting up guard rails to keep it that way.”
The premier answered a few questions after her speech regarding social issues and what kind of relationship she envisions a UCP government having with municipalities in the future.
“I want us to be partners,” she replied. “I feel like one of the big frustrations I have with Ottawa is that they over-tax us and take more than they need and then they trickle money back with a lot of conditions attached. And then we don’t end up seeing the same amount of money returning to our province and yet we do the same thing to a lot of our municipalities,” she said.
