Alberta Premier Jason Kenney looks back on government's first moves in 2019

Kenney talks tax cuts, union fury in year-end interview CTV's Bill Fortier sat down with the Alberta premier to talk about unemployment, 'alarmist' unions and the firing of the election commissioner.

EDMONTON — It's been an eventful 2019 for the UCP government.

Unseating the Alberta NDP just eight months ago, you'd be forgiven if you thought it's been closer to years given the surplus of headlines Premier Jason Kenney and his party have generated.

Kenney sat down with CTV News Edmonton's Bill Fortier to discuss the year's events and what the government is focused on heading into the new year.

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE RISING

One of the UCP government's much-touted campaign promises, the Job Creation Tax Cut was among the bills introduced weeks after the party was voted into office.

Since then, the unemployment rate has risen slightly from 6.7 per cent in April to 7.2 per cent in November.

In the interview, Kenney shrugged off any suggestion that the tax cut should have resulted in more jobs by now.

"Well, I wasn't really expecting an overnight change because the Job Creation Tax Cut is a four-point reduction on the tax rate on employers over three years," he said. "So the full impact of that won't be in place for a couple of years, 2022."

Kenney said economists have projected the cut will help grow Alberta's economy by two per cent and create up to 58,000 full-time private sector jobs.

"More people are coming to Alberta, as well, so it's hard for the job creation to keep up with population growth. I would call that a good problem, I guess, in one way," he said.

He pointed to upcoming projects by Telus, which is spending $16-billion over five years on 5G network upgrades in the province, and Suncor, which is investigating into power generation projects, as signs that the job market is moving in the right direction.

"We're just trying to send a message that Alberta is the best place in Canada, if not North America, in which to invest to create new jobs."

UNION ANGER

Speaking of creating new jobs, unions across Alberta including nurse and teachers have issued a flurry of press releases blasting the government over its 2019 budget, which they say will lead to cuts of up to 7,400 jobs in the public sector.

Kenney disputed that figure, saying the jobs are "not actually layoffs."

"First of all, to be clear, our budget for health care is actually going up. It's not a cut, it's an increase over last year and for the next three years," he said.

"We're maintaining record-high levels of spending on health and education. There will have to be some internal changes where we see wasteful areas or inefficiencies."

The UCP government has previously told unions that they'll have to find ways to operate more efficiently as a number of positions are lost through attrition.

"It's less than one per cent of the workforce for nurses, for example, spread over four years less than the average annual turnover amongst nurses, so it would be a relatively modest number," he said. "I think, unfortunately, some of the unions have been really a bit alarmist about the language there."

Kenney was pressed on whether he thought maintaining the same budget despite inflation would mean fewer nurses, something he said he hoped would not happen.

"I don't think it has to mean that. Nobody is being laid off now, let's be clear about that," he said. "These are prospective reductions in employment levels over four years, maximum number, if we can't find other savings."

BILL 22 AND THE FIRING OF LORNE GIBSON

One of the more controversial events of the last sitting of the legislature was the passage of Bill 22, which paved the way for the government to eliminate the position of election commissioner Lorne Gibson by merging his office with that of the chief electoral officer's.

The move elicited outrage from the NDP because Gibson was heading up an active investigation of the 2017 UCP leadership race, which Kenney ultimately won.

The bill was introduced on a Monday and passed the same week after four days of debate.

"Did no one within government or within your office say, 'Maybe we shouldn't do something that's going to result in terminating someone's contract early who's in the midst of investigating the governing party?' Did that conversation ever happen?" asked Fortier.

"Yeah, it did," Kenney replied. "And we concluded that there was no time at which the commissioner might not be involved in prospective investigations into our party or other parties. In other words, there was no time when somebody would not make an accusation that there was a supposed conflict of interest."

Kenney said all active investigations were passed "seamlessly" to the chief electoral officer's bureau, which will still operate as an independent office.

"That's what we've said all along," he said. "So I really don't see this as being an issue…The chief electoral officer can hire him back if he wants."

STABILIZATION AGREEMENT 'A HUGE WIN'

Kenney travelled to Ottawa with eight of his cabinet members to meet with federal and provincial finance minister, where they discussed proposed reforms to the federal fiscal stabilization program.

The program provides financial protections for so called "have-not" provinces that face sudden economic declines, but Kenney has said it's a raw deal for Alberta due to caps related to population size.

He has argued that Alberta is owed as much as $2.4 billion, something he said Ottawa seemed open to discussing.

"It was, frankly, a huge win for Alberta," he said. "I look at it as a kind of equalization rebate for 'have' provinces like ours, so I was just so grateful that premiers from the territories, east to west across the political spectrum, saw how Alberta is hurting. We need some recognition that this province is the goose that laid the golden egg and we're hurting."

 

LOOKING AHEAD

When asked what he’s most looking forward to in 2020, Kenney said for his government’s promises to come to fruition.

“I certainly hope it’s going to be jobs and growth,” he told Fortier.

“I think there are some good new signs. A lot of major investment’s being announced that are going to hit the ground next year. We’re going to be moving Alberta oil out through Line 3, by crude by rail.”

However, Kenney has questioned how “exposed” Alberta is to the markets elsewhere because of its $63-billion debt.

“Worst-case scenario would be a global economic downturn that would obviously affect us here,” he told Fortier.

“But if the global economy stays relatively stable, I believe that 2020 will be the turnaround year for Alberta’s economy.”