Alberta Minute: Rising Debt, Education Funding, and the final Fair Deal Meeting

Alberta Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Alberta politics.

This Week In Alberta:

• After a small delay due to the unfortunate passing of First Nations leader and Fair Deal Panellist Jason Goodstriker, the Fair Deal Panel will convene for its final meeting in Airdrie tonight, at 6:30 pm. Our friends at Project Confederation are also holding a meeting before the Fair Deal Panel, at 4:30 pm - details here.
  
  
• The province's consultations for the 2020 budget continue throughout the week. You can submit your feedback on how to balance the budget or participate in telephone town halls tonight if you live north of Red Deer, and tomorrow night if you live in Red Deer or south of Red Deer. Call 1-877-229-8493 at 6:30 pm and enter code 115500 to participate.
  
  
• You can also provide your input on proposed changes to Alberta’s Food Regulation System here. The government is looking into ways that the province can reduce red tape while increasing opportunities and making it easier for home-prepared food entrepreneurs to do business. Do not forget to make your submission by February 2, 2020.

Last Week In Alberta:

• Alberta's debt has officially exceeded 70-billion dollars and as the Canadian Taxpayer Federation said last week, the public sector union bosses are not helping. The AFL, in particular, has been campaigning for ever-higher spending while also campaigning against pipelines and other energy projects that would have paid for that government spending.
  
  
• The Minister of Education announced that post-secondary funding will be tied to performance in the future. Each institution will be able to establish its own priorities while also being expected to follow government-set system-wide targets. Once these targets are established, the government will tie Campus Alberta Grants - approximately 40% of post-secondary funding - to those metrics, starting April 1, 2020.
  
  
• A provincially-led working group is planning to combat liquor store robberies and thefts by stealing away your privacy rather than addressing the actual crime. Alcanna, a company that owns various liquor and cannabis stores, is installing an ID scanning system in partnership with the government to track all store visitors. This is a poor choice: the vast majority of law-abiding citizens shouldn't have to give up their privacy because the police can't deal with the tiny minority of those breaking the law.

-----

Donate:

The Alberta Institute doesn't accept any government funding and never will. We think you should be free to choose, for yourself, which organizations to support. If you're in a position to contribute financially, you can make a donation here.

-----

Share:

If you're not in a position to donate, we understand, but if you appreciate our work, you can help by spreading our message. Please forward this email to your friends, follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and help make sure every Albertan knows what's going on in our province.