Attendees listened to keynote speakers and held up signs at Saturday's 'Alberta-wide Protest' which took place in several cities including Red Deer. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Josh Hall, Shaun Penner

Alberta-wide protests

Protesters take to streets in Red Deer, Grande Prairie over budget cuts

Mar 1, 2020 | 4:37 PM

RED DEER, GRANDE PRAIRIE – Doctors, nurses, teachers and other frontline social service workers in both Grande Prairie and Red Deer were joined by members of the public Saturday in protesting budget cuts by the UCP government.

About 200 people turned up at Red Deer’s City Hall with several dozen turning out outside St. Joseph’s Catholic High School in Grande Prairie.

Their grievances included pension changes, the privatization of lab services, cuts to education and seniors programming, and what the government is doing to alter time-modifier rules for physicians.

“We’re ready to take on the government and show the public this is not the right way to treat the citizens of Alberta,” said Jason Heistad, secretary-treasurer with the Alberta Union of Public Employees (AUPE), during Red Deer’s protest.

“We’re looking after all those Albertans who may be on AISH or (other) supports, people who rely on public education, post-secondary, government services, and we’re making sure Albertans are aware that the next three years are going to be the toughest years of our time.”

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A resident of Innisfail, Heistad says Albertans will notice the differences caused by this week’s provincial budget sooner than later.

“This is only the first year and over 5900 people who work in these services are no longer going to be there,” he continued. “When you’re going into public facilities or schools, you’re going to notice the lack of teachers’ aides, nurses, LPNs, and the healthcare aides that actually make our public facilities run properly.”

Jane Grenier-Frank, president of the Central Alberta Council on Aging, said the provincial government’s changes, including to eligibility for seniors’ programs, are going to cause people hardship.

“Many of our seniors are in a position where they’ve never had jobs or were in low-paying jobs, so they don’t have a huge pension. If they’re having to now pay an increased amount of money for long-term residential care, that is going to have an impact,” she said.

“Quit passing all this money out, but taking it from seniors. Support our seniors because you’re going to become one.”

Public sector supporters rallied in the parking lot outside of St. Joseph’s Catholic High School on Saturday afternoon against cuts made by the United Conservative Government (Photo: Shaun Penner)

One of those in attendance at St Joseph’s Catholic High School in Grande Prairie was former Alberta Energy Minister and Dunvegan-Central Peace-Notley MLA Marg McCuaig-Boyd, who was there to speak out against cuts that could mean a loss of teachers, doctors or nurses to our area.

“It’s important to me, in rural Alberta, to make sure that we have a healthy education system, a health care system, because that is why people move up here,” said McCuaig-Boyd. “It’s going to be difficult, if it falls apart, to attract families to this region. That concerns me as a northerner.”

Peter MacKay, a teacher in the Grande Prairie Catholic School Division and the Alberta Teachers Association’s Northwest Division representative, spoke to the crowd about the “mis-information” he perceives from the UCP government, who has actively maintained that funding would remain level for education.

$8.3 billion was allotted in the 2020-21 provincial budget for education, which the UCP says is an increase of $100 million.

But that increase is from, what the government refers to as “a new funding model by using reserves and own source funding.”

“Which basically, is if I told my kid ‘I’m going to give you an allowance, (and) this is how I am going to do it: You can sell some lemonade, you can take all the money out of your piggy bank. There, that’s your increased allowance’,” said MacKay. “It’s a ridiculous way of doing it.”

Demonstrations were also held in Slave Lake, Banff, Ft. McMurray, Lethbridge, Calgary and Medicine Hat.