Alberta should not be embarrassed about its riches, but it should not go on a spending spree, say some rural leaders.
The province runs a balanced budget and this year announced a $9 billion surplus mainly from oil and gas royalties. That wealth has been subject to a tug of war among an array of interest groups during the election campaign.
Cremona farmer Doug McBain wants the money saved for the future, while Byemoor farmer Jack Hayden wants a sustainable source of money to rebuild rural Alberta’s crumbling infrastructure.
Read Also
Dry summer conditions can lead to poor water quality for livestock
Drought conditions in the Prairies has led to an decrease in water quality, and producers are being advised to closely monitor water quality for their animals.
“It is no different than blowing your bank account,” said McBain, who is also president of the Western Barley Growers Association. Building a heritage fund of $100 billion is a worthy goal even if it attracts criticism or envy from other provinces.
“If you are depending on that revenue now to run your province and your programs, when it runs out, you are in big trouble,” he said.
The healthy bank balance allowed Alberta to provide full support for the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program and BSE aid, which is more than Manitoba or Saskatchewan could offer.
Yet McBain argues producers across the Prairies end up with similar support levels and standards of living.
“Alberta always gets tarred with the brush of having things better but when you get down to the numbers, I don’t see them as much different,” he said.
As retiring president of the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties, Hayden said the rural situation has improved since the last election because resource money enabled the province to support infrastructure and farm programs.
“I believe some good basic decisions have been made and that is why the revenues are available to us,” Hayden said.
“I think our situation is better than other areas. An example is the set-aside program. Livestock producers in Alberta will receive more aid per animal than in other provinces,” he said.
“That is only possible because of the way the economy is performing in Alberta.”
As the centre of Canada’s beef sector, the province pumped $650 million in BSE aid to rural areas, although there was criticism that money was not delivered to those most in need. The money came from the $2.5 billion sustainability fund created to deal with emergencies.
That aid may not be enough because 60 percent of rural municipalities have declared themselves disaster areas after years of drought and BSE trade impacts.
“The way things are operating right now, there is not sufficient dollars coming back into the cattle industry to sustain it,” Hayden said.
Rural Alberta faces other unique problems.
It is the only province or territory to experience growth in its rural population, but most of the new residents are not farmers.
The 2001 census showed Alberta had a population of 2,974,807. Of this total, 569,647 resided in areas classified as rural and 2,405,160 resided in urban areas. There were 53,652 farms.
The newcomers place greater demands on municipalities’ limited resources. They have higher expectations than their farming neighbours for better roads, recreation, water services, schools and health care.
When the provincial government started slashing its budget in 1993, the financial burden to provide public services shifted to municipalities with their limited financial reserves. Rural municipalities receive seven cents on every tax dollar and the remainder is split between the federal and provincial governments.
Part of the problem may be alleviated with the recent provincial announcement of $3 billion for infrastructure over the next five years. About $1 billion is directed to areas outside Calgary and Edmonton.
Hayden is also confident help may arrive under a new deal with Ottawa to transfer a share of the federal fuel tax toward infrastructure costs. He sits on a prime minister’s advisory committee studying how best to deliver five cents from every litre of fuel sold to projects. He speculates $2 billion could be released annually, of which Alberta would get 15 percent based on its share of the national population.
