CALGARY (Staff) — With Alberta’s four major government departments taking smaller budget cuts than expected, others such as agriculture may be asked to give up more.
Agriculture minister Walter Paszkowski said people will have to wait until the budget is tabled Feb. 24 to see what programs might be decreased or eliminated.
The government announced in its budget last spring that a 20 percent reduction was necessary to combat the provincial deficit. But the cuts will not be equal.
“We may have to do more than 20 percent, remembering we have to profile our education needs. Education is considered to be number one in our province,” said Paszkowski.
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“We also have to look after our health care. We have social programs. There are a group of people who will always need social programs. We’re not all born equal and we never will be equal. The time comes when disaster can strike and we have to provide for those,” he said during an interview Jan. 14.
Agriculture’s budget for 1992-93 was $511 million, about four percent of the total government expenditure.
Changes have already come with the abolition of the Crow Benefit offset program, which cost about $44 million a year.
The government has also reduced the size of guarantee it is willing to offer for feeder associations loans. Late last fall it was dropped from a 25 percent guarantee to 20 percent.
Beef’s national tripartite stabilization program, which cost $28 million, finished Dec. 31.
