Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she wished she knew the details of every expenditure the government funds, as it would prevent it from doing reversals. At the moment, Smith said not many municipalities in Alberta have transit programs, and Calgary and Edmonton have the most extensive ones. “And so we have been subsidizing a program that Calgary and Edmonton have offered,” said Smith in a Saturday interview on Your Province. Your Premier. on Corus Radio. Corus Radio host Wayne Nelson started off by saying there was public outrage on the Low Income Transit Pass (LITP) cancellation. “Social Services Minister Jason Nixon later apologized and said the money will remain,” said Nelson. “Now as part of his apology, he said the cut was something that he hadn’t really fully committed to, and if I understand his statement, it happened because of a communication issue with his department.” Nelson asked if there were procedures and protocols to prevent reversals from happening. Smith said the Alberta government has always offered transit subsidies to low-income people. However, it has been subsidizing the LITP in Calgary and Edmonton. When the Alberta government was looking for ways to balance the budget, she said cutting the LITP came up. The Alberta Treasury Board had called for Seniors, Community, and Social Services to find savings. After talking to Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek and Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi, she said it “was not really fair to make a funding change midstream.” She added the Alberta government supports all municipalities, so it might need to find a way to create comparable support in every one. While she was going to make the change, she said it was not the right move at this time. She acknowledged the optics sucked. Smith concluded by saying politicians “do not get every decision right all the time in government.” “And you know some times you have to do things a different way,” she said. “So we’re doing it a different way.” Nixon said on Wednesday the Alberta government will be reinstating funds to the LITP in Calgary and Edmonton to support low-income people. READ MORE: UPDATED: Alberta government reverses course on Low Income Transit Pass programThe Alberta government provides direct transit subsidies to Albertans on social benefits in municipalities across the province, including Calgary and Edmonton. “Following conversations with the two largest cities, it is clear that the cities are not able to pay for their full programs at this time,” said Nixon.
