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Concerns aired at Slave Lake JTA meeting
Theresa Seraphim
for Spotlight
A Feb. 8 town hall meeting provided Slave Lake residents with the opportunity to air their concerns about recent actions of the provincial government.
The meeting, one of 22 being held across the province, was organized and facilitated by members of Join Together Alberta (JTA). JTA is a coalition of union-related groups which came together in December to get feedback from Albertans.
“The purpose of this campaign is to focus attention on the proposed cuts to government services,” explained Noel Somerville of Public Interest Alberta, one of the groups involved in JTA.
“We see the government using the global economic crisis and the resulting drop in oil and gas prices to make totally unnecessary cuts to public services,” said Somerville.
He said cuts already made by the government are hurting Albertans.
“In health, wait times are longer (and) we’re seeing hiring freezes,” he said, adding that post-secondary education is seeing increased tuition fees and decreased accessibility, and social service programs are being cancelled.
With $2 billion more slated to be cut, Somerville predicted between 23,000 and 60,000 jobs will be lost.
He said the government has three rationales for the cuts: “The deficit made me do it”, spending is out of control, and the province is recovering from the recent recession. None of them, said Somerville, hold water.
“This government seems to like to be able to cry poor,” he said, adding the government has dropped potential revenue earning initiatives such as health care premiums, which resulted in $1.1 billion in lost revenue.
But Alberta has money, said Somerville.
“We are the only province that does not have a debt,” he stated.
Somerville expressed a concern about the province turning services over to private enterprise, which, he said, downloads the costs of those services onto those needing them. For example, he said, seniors are experiencing this through the government’s pharmacology and continuing care strategies, which will result in seniors paying more for those services.
The number of continuing care spaces has been capped at 14,5000 which, said Somerville, opens the door to private industry filling the gap and charging about $5,000 per person per month for provided services.
He said the government’s desire to place some seniors in an assisted living situation is not wise, because the government is overriding the long-term care assessment, which is a medical diagnosis, and because assisted living is not covered by the Nursing Home Act, as nursing homes are.
“This is so wrong, it turns my stomach,” said Somerville.
Dave Purkis of the Northern Lakes College Faculty Association (and representatives of the Alberta Colleges and Institutes Faculty Association) told the gathering that post-secondary institutions across the province are seeing increased enrollments coupled with cuts to their budgets.
“Fees for education are going to increase,” said Purkis.
“The government doesn’t seem to get that education is an investment and that they get an actual return from that investment.”
After group discussions of issues and possible solutions, Jerry Toews of the Alberta Federation of Labour gave out scarves with the Alberta tartan, telling people that design was chosen as the symbol for the campaign to signify the grassroots nature of the campaign.
“We’re taking our province back,” he said.
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Noel Somerville of Public Interest Alberta outlines Join Together Alberta’s concerns about the province’s proposed budget cuts to areas such as health care, education and social services.
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Jerry Toews of the Alberta Federation of Labour shows one of many pieces of fabric on which he invited participants to write a message detailing what the government needs to provide for Slave Lake. The pieces of fabric will be joined together and taken to the Legislature.
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Dave Purkis of the Northern Lakes College Faculty Association addresses the gathering.
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Linda Munroe writes a message on a piece of fabric. Her message, and all others, will be joined together and taken to the government.
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