The budget had barely been introduced to the public when thousands of protesters arrived at the Legislature Thursday..“Several thousand people, in Edmonton for a teacher’s convention, marched through downtown Edmonton from the convention centre to the legislature to protest UCP cuts to public sector jobs and services,” said the Western Standard‘s Ric Dolphin who was covering Budget 2020 in Edmonton..One woman attending the protests said the turnout was “huge” to “protest against public sector cuts”..“The people united will never be divided!” They chanted..The government’s budget showed a decrease of around 2,000 public sector jobs between this year and next which Finance Minister Travis Toews said Wednesday his government has been “very transparent about.”.“There is no greater job for our government than getting Alberta back to work,” Toews said in a press release Thursday..“We are putting a growth and prosperity lens on everything we do to ensure the choices we make as a government support economic growth and jobs for Albertans.”. ableg protestSource: Ric Dolphin/Western Standard .The government is looking at ways to increase funding for education in the province, according to the budget documents..Education property taxes will rise by 3.1 per cent in 2020-21, with residential/farmland rates going from $2.56 to $2.64 per $1,000 of equalized assessment. Non-residential rates will rise from $3.76 to $3.88..The UCP introduced the “one time” Shallow Gas Tax Relief in July of 2019 which gave rural natural gas producers a 35 per cent (the amount of education taxes) property tax cut. In December the government subsequently extended the tax relief for the 2020 tax year..“We are now shifting our focus to the long term,” said Dale Nally, Associate Minister of Natural Gas..“Providing the same property assessment reduction in 2020 as in 2019 will allow us to work with industry to fix Alberta’s assessment model, without having to rush the process.”.With files from Ric Dolphin.Deirdre Mitchell-MacLean is a Senior Reporter with Western Standard.dmaclean@westernstandardonline.com.Twitter: @Mitchell_AB
The budget had barely been introduced to the public when thousands of protesters arrived at the Legislature Thursday..“Several thousand people, in Edmonton for a teacher’s convention, marched through downtown Edmonton from the convention centre to the legislature to protest UCP cuts to public sector jobs and services,” said the Western Standard‘s Ric Dolphin who was covering Budget 2020 in Edmonton..One woman attending the protests said the turnout was “huge” to “protest against public sector cuts”..“The people united will never be divided!” They chanted..The government’s budget showed a decrease of around 2,000 public sector jobs between this year and next which Finance Minister Travis Toews said Wednesday his government has been “very transparent about.”.“There is no greater job for our government than getting Alberta back to work,” Toews said in a press release Thursday..“We are putting a growth and prosperity lens on everything we do to ensure the choices we make as a government support economic growth and jobs for Albertans.”. ableg protestSource: Ric Dolphin/Western Standard .The government is looking at ways to increase funding for education in the province, according to the budget documents..Education property taxes will rise by 3.1 per cent in 2020-21, with residential/farmland rates going from $2.56 to $2.64 per $1,000 of equalized assessment. Non-residential rates will rise from $3.76 to $3.88..The UCP introduced the “one time” Shallow Gas Tax Relief in July of 2019 which gave rural natural gas producers a 35 per cent (the amount of education taxes) property tax cut. In December the government subsequently extended the tax relief for the 2020 tax year..“We are now shifting our focus to the long term,” said Dale Nally, Associate Minister of Natural Gas..“Providing the same property assessment reduction in 2020 as in 2019 will allow us to work with industry to fix Alberta’s assessment model, without having to rush the process.”.With files from Ric Dolphin.Deirdre Mitchell-MacLean is a Senior Reporter with Western Standard.dmaclean@westernstandardonline.com.Twitter: @Mitchell_AB
