Local organizations grapple with provincial budget

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees is one organization that is not happy with what was tabled, noting 1,436 cuts to public sector workers, and a further 686 cuts to government positions.

The province has stated the majority of the cuts will come through attrition.

“The MacKinnon Panel report found that since 2014, despite the recession, the size of the Alberta’s public sector has grown by more than 10,000 full time equivalents,” said Jerrica Goodwin, press secretary to the finance minister, in a statement. :Spending on public sector compensation accounts for 55 per cent of government’s operating budget. To ensure the long-term sustainability of the public sector and the high-quality services Albertans expect, we must take measures to restrain this growth.”

Guy Smith, AUPE president, said over the phone Friday that he’s expecting more cuts.

“We’ve already seen announcements of cuts at SAIT,” he said, referring to Friday’s announcement from the technical college about 230 position cuts. “We’ve already lost members at the University of Calgary, and we’re anticipating more cuts in the post-secondary sector, but also in government services because of budget cuts or budgets not keeping up with inflation or population growth.”

Education was another topic discussed in the budget. School boards across Alberta were in Edmonton on Friday to learn about how the budget will impact them.

The province is budgeting $8.3 billion for K-12 education this year.

“We have maintained education funding at record levels,” said Colin Aitchison, press secretary for the Minister of Education, in a statement. The new funding model drives more money to the classroom, resulting in a $100 million increase in funding for school divisions across the province.”

Locally, all three school divisions are expected to see a modest increase.

The Medicine Hat Public School Division received an estimated $75,105,000 in Budget 2019. Under the new funding model, it’s expected to receive $75,903,000. The Medicine Hat Catholic Board is expected to receive $27,842,000 (up from $27,551,000), while the Prairie Rose School Division is expected to get $43,820,000 (up from $42,814,000).

All three school divisions noted it was too soon to determine any impacts the funding would have on their budgets or staffing levels.

“Additional consultation with government is required and we anticipate that the budget will be finalized by the middle of March. In the interim, we will use the information we have to analyze our current situation and start planning for the impact on our system,” a statement from the Public School division reads.

“Until we have time to understand how this compares to previous years and the former funding model, we will not be able to comment on the overall impact to schools and students,” wrote Ryan Boser, secretary-treasurer with Prairie Rose.

“Our commitment throughout this whole process, however, is to maintain the high level of education that the Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education has offered consistently over the years,” said Dwayne Zarichny, Catholic board superintendent. “We’re dedicated to focusing on supporting our students and our staff.”

As organizations continue to look at the budget, they’re also looking at next steps to take as the year progresses.

“Obviously, we’re going to be fighting hard to save jobs and services for Albertans,” said Smith. “We know we’re in for a struggle, and we’re willing to take on that struggle.”

“We communicate, correspond with the different ministries that would apply to a lot of our policies, and looking at partnering with government to move some of those recommendations forward,” said Kowalchuk.

by Charles Lefebvre

Local organizations grapple with provincial budget

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