Juno News - What’s behind Alberta’s $9B budget deficit？

00:00:00.000 welcome to the fighter with chris sims i am chris sims i'm the alberta director for the

00:00:10.680 canadian taxpayers federation where we are fighting for lower taxes less waste and more

00:00:15.780 accountable government we're gonna hit on all three of those points real soon here uh but first

00:00:20.620 i'm coming to you from edmonton alberta uh not my usual studio in lethbridge because

00:00:25.500 we traveled up here to cover the Alberta provincial budget. Now, if you're not living in Alberta

00:00:31.240 listening to this, you'll be like, oh, well, who cares? You should care because Alberta is always

00:00:37.180 the forward guard. Alberta is always the canary in the coal mine. We're the ones that are supposed

00:00:42.760 to be the leaders, right? And the indicators of economic health here in Canada. And when they're

00:00:50.500 getting their finances wrong it's not good it's like your pace car breaking down okay it's like

00:00:57.200 your older brother not being the one that's actually doing the household chores you have

00:01:00.820 to look towards Alberta I find personally as a role of leadership and what we saw in this latest

00:01:09.080 budget is bad okay I want to preface this by saying I know a lot of our viewers are huge fans

00:01:18.300 of Premier Daniel Smith.

00:01:21.340 I'm just going to lay my cards on the table.

00:01:23.580 So am I.

00:01:24.960 I've always been a big fan of Daniel Smith

00:01:27.560 ever since I met her about 20 years ago

00:01:29.720 back in the Wild Rose days.

00:01:31.880 She's a great lady.

00:01:34.020 That's Daniel Smith.

00:01:35.840 The Premier of Alberta

00:01:37.560 has got to get this under control.

00:01:40.940 That's where I'm separating these roles.

00:01:42.700 And I'll put it this way.

00:01:44.360 If you're listening to this

00:01:45.960 and you're getting mad

00:01:46.800 that we're holding the Alberta government to account

00:01:49.080 because you like Premier Daniel Smith,

00:01:51.120 you're not helping her.

00:01:52.500 You're not doing her any favors

00:01:53.780 because right now she is surrounded, okay,

00:01:57.520 by cabinet ministers, MLAs, staff, bureaucrats,

00:02:01.020 all those folks who are in this dome in Edmonton

00:02:04.520 and lobby groups, special interest groups, big unions.

00:02:09.980 She's surrounded by them all the time in Edmonton.

00:02:13.000 And they're saying, spend more, spend more, spend more.

00:02:15.840 like it happens all the time and so here we are the alberta government is running a deficit of

00:02:25.140 more than nine billion dollars with a b it's close to 10 billion what that means what a deficit means

00:02:31.860 is like a mini debt every single fiscal year so your spending is outpacing what you're taking in

00:02:37.420 in revenue. So that amount of borrowing is now being heaped onto our provincial debt.

00:02:45.000 And our provincial debt is now more than $100 billion in Alberta. I never thought I'd say that.

00:02:57.100 It's upsetting, actually. So that debt, we all have to pay interest on that debt. It's a line

00:03:04.220 item in the budget, just like on a credit card. So that interest on the debt is going to cost

00:03:10.660 Albertans well over $3 billion this year. And next year, it's going to be over $4 billion.

00:03:18.520 To put that into context, that's more than $250 million a month. A month just on debt

00:03:28.460 interest payments. Why is this? Let's find out. Joining me now is my good friend and colleague

00:03:35.840 Franco Terrazzano. He is the federal director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Importantly,

00:03:41.960 Frank, hi Franco, you lived here in Alberta and I phoned you kind of distraught yesterday

00:03:48.640 after the budget. I don't really know what to say. Well, okay, let me start because I saw this

00:03:55.280 wonderful quote somewhere in the media about the Alberta budget. And I think it sums up my entire

00:04:01.400 view of what just transpired in Alberta, unfortunately. Okay. I'm going to read you a

00:04:06.660 quote. Quote, spending is up, debt is up, taxes are up, and this is a terrible budget for taxpayers,

00:04:15.600 said one Chris Sims, the Alberta director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. So Chris,

00:04:20.340 tell us how you really feel about the budget. Yeah. So I was in a bad place. It was called

00:04:26.420 budget lockup. And yeah, I was super upset about this because we're fighting for taxpayers all the

00:04:32.940 time. And this government, frankly, Franco, they didn't try. They didn't try. They're adding more

00:04:40.000 than $9 billion onto the debt. Now we see the provincial debt of Alberta, more than $100

00:04:47.480 billion dollars. It would be embarrassing if it weren't so alarming. Taxpayers are paying

00:04:54.960 interest on that thing every single year. It's gross. And so I saw this. I saw this crazy spending

00:05:00.760 and I'm like, OK, things must have been really grim. Like they probably went through here and

00:05:05.380 made some cuts and, you know, desperately tried to save money. No, no. They cranked up spending

00:05:11.260 and they just cranked up the debt. So I honestly I went through that thing for a few hours yesterday

00:05:16.620 trying to find something nice to say i couldn't find anything good in this budget yeah it um

00:05:22.820 folks like this really makes me mad as chris mentioned i'm the now federal director of the

00:05:27.360 canadian taxpayers federation i was previously the alberta spokesperson for the ctf uh essentially

00:05:32.500 uh the canadian taxpayers federation shipped me off to mordor aka ottawa to do this federal

00:05:38.480 position but like my heart still um resides in alberta so seeing the government just absolutely

00:05:44.520 tank alberta's finances really makes me upset and to your point it's like they didn't even try

00:05:50.340 right it's like they didn't even try here's a dumpster fire of a budget and one thing that

00:05:54.980 really stuck out to me in terms of how bad this budget is is that alberta still has a spending

00:06:01.320 problem like that's the problem here right like what uh you know the cost of the bureaucracy the

00:06:07.480 alberta government employees went up almost nine percent yeah yeah like that's crazy in one year

00:06:13.660 in one year, one fiscal year, year over year. That blew my mind. I also, A, they're breaking

00:06:24.200 their own balanced budget rule. It's often referred to that way, where they can't run

00:06:28.300 three consecutive deficits. Deficits are basically mini debts, folks. That's where they're spending

00:06:33.340 outstrips their resource column and they add it to the provincial debt. They're technically not

00:06:38.740 allowed to do that three times in a row unless like Mars is invading, like unless it's like

00:06:43.700 exceptional circumstances. And right now, oil is in like in the mid 60s for price of barrel oil,

00:06:50.680 like nobody's invading, like new, this does not qualify as a big fire emergency. So A,

00:06:57.500 they're breaking their own rule there. And I was doing some quick back in the napkin math last

00:07:02.560 night. I didn't have time to do it yet. But their spending increase doesn't look too good

00:07:08.400 compared to their inflation plus population growth number for the last year it doesn't i don't know

00:07:13.500 if they're breaking that yet if they're not they're coming darn close franco all this is to say

00:07:18.660 they're way over spending and that the do you want to get into the sneaky tax hike or do you

00:07:24.820 want to talk about what they're spending on more i just want to keep talking about what they're

00:07:27.900 spending on because look i'm gonna make a damning comparison here because i mentioned you know

00:07:33.320 spending on pay for government employees looks like it's going up almost 9%, right? Year over

00:07:38.580 year. Folks, we just got the Carney government's main spending plan for 2026-27, and everyone knows

00:07:46.240 how brutal the cost of Ottawa's bloated bureaucracy has become. But even under Carney, the federal

00:07:52.920 liberals, the cost of the bureaucracy is only going up about 5%, right? In the upcoming year.

00:07:59.380 So it looks like the Alberta government's going on a bureaucratic binge here.

00:08:04.380 Now, Chris, it's not just the bureaucracy.

00:08:06.960 And when you mentioned that they're not even trying, there's some silly examples of complete government waste in Alberta that they're not even canceling.

00:08:15.900 Why don't you talk about that a little bit?

00:08:17.220 Because it's infuriating.

00:08:18.900 Yeah, it really is.

00:08:19.700 And it's emblematic.

00:08:21.200 Okay.

00:08:21.680 So I was going through the budget yesterday.

00:08:24.220 It was an embargo.

00:08:25.040 And so you can't talk to anybody about it.

00:08:26.340 And I'm like, hmm.

00:08:27.060 And I'm crunching these numbers.

00:08:28.240 I'm doing inflation, all that stuff. And I'm seeing where their spending is going up. It's

00:08:32.160 frustrating. I'm seeing the tax increases. And I was like, OK, just like regular level reaction,

00:08:37.420 quite cold and calculating. Then I saw this spending and I got mad. So there is this thing

00:08:44.400 called the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. OK, it's some slush fund where governments dump

00:08:50.420 taxpayers money into it. And then the foundation ladles out that money to individuals and groups.

00:08:56.680 Now, in Alberta, provincially, just last year, Franco, they handed out more than $5 million to individuals.

00:09:08.020 I'm not talking the school group that's taking clarinet lessons in Calgary, okay?

00:09:12.580 I'm not talking about the little old lady's church choir that had to go on a trip to Red Deer.

00:09:16.900 I got rid of those ones in the column.

00:09:19.840 Just for the individuals, they're blowing more than $5 million just last year.

00:09:25.020 And I found some examples of this stuff. So there's this one person that flew overseas.

00:09:30.220 People might have seen our Teddy Waste Awards stuff. And she she flew overseas and she rolled 0.98

00:09:35.140 around on a lawn chair and videotaped herself. We gave her $15,000 to go do that. Same person

00:09:43.000 flew overseas and hid behind a big piece of paper that was taped to the wall. Again, 15 grand. These

00:09:49.340 are just ones I'm randomly finding. This is a spot check. Want to get into groups for a second?

00:09:54.240 this is what really blew my mind franco some of the groups are these art galleries and i'm using

00:09:59.280 that term very loosely this one art gallery in calgary that got funding from three levels of

00:10:05.840 government i'll point out they took plastic food container garbage taped it to christmas tinsel

00:10:15.520 and then they hanged it in the window of the calgary transit station it's literally made 0.78

00:10:20.320 of garbage. That group, we told this government many times, this is low-hanging fruit, cut this 0.86

00:10:26.980 crap. They increased it. They increased the funding by $3.5 million. So that's where I'm 1.00

00:10:35.420 like, nope, you're not trying. And now I'm super ticked off. Yeah, me too. Me too. Because I hate

00:10:42.460 to see Wild Rose Country's provincial finances being absolutely tanked like this. It makes me

00:10:48.880 super upset uh it just seems to me like they're not even trying and you know you think of alberta

00:10:54.580 and alberta supposed to be you know the alberta advantage is supposed to be that it's supposed to

00:10:58.660 be a bastion of freedom in a in a country that all too often is lacking it right so this is what

00:11:05.580 really infuriates me um look so spending is up clearly right debt is up the government is is

00:11:14.320 borrowing almost 10 billion dollars yeah right so spending up debt is up and somehow taxes

00:11:21.420 are going up what's going on chris so um i'm trying to maintain myself here uh there's a

00:11:31.820 really big sneaky tax hike that is being put through by the province um and i just want to

00:11:37.540 I feel like I need to say this. I'm a huge fan of Danielle Smith. I like that lady a lot of

00:11:43.920 Danielle Smith. The premier of Alberta has got to get this under control, though. Must. She must. 0.99

00:11:51.860 She has to reach down in herself, find that iron lady, start going through those cabinet ministers, 1.00

00:11:56.620 their staff, their departments, kick butt and take names. Because obviously, none of this has 0.82

00:12:02.000 happened. Not one bit of this has happened. So she, Wild Rose Danielle, the one that I met like

00:12:08.500 20 years ago, she would be furious at this budget. And so I know she probably isn't a fan of this,

00:12:15.000 but she's got to get this under control. Yeah, too bad because she's the premier. 0.88

00:12:19.700 Yep, exactly. This ain't personal. You got to get this job done. You have to, you must. And this is

00:12:24.480 Why you must? Because Albertans won't tolerate big sneaky tax increases, especially when the party

00:12:32.360 campaigned on not raising your taxes. I remember that during the last election. And so now there's

00:12:40.700 something in Alberta where you pay when you pay your property tax, if you're a property owner,

00:12:45.120 no matter what city you're living in, actually part of your property tax is imposed by and goes

00:12:52.180 back to the province. A lot of people don't know this. We just basically have a provincial property

00:12:58.460 tax. They call it the education property tax. They're jacking it up at like the provincial

00:13:05.920 level. Okay. And it's a really sneaky way of doing it because most people don't know that

00:13:11.780 their local property taxes, that a chunk of it's going to Edmonton. They don't know that.

00:13:16.300 They'll just yell at their mayor. They'll just yell at their local city hall, who often deserve

00:13:20.680 to be yelled at by the way uh just saying um but no it's super sneaky and i did the quick math

00:13:27.400 franco next year or this year they're collecting like 400 million dollars extra

00:13:33.240 so a huge tax increase on people who own homes and are trying to afford to keep their house

00:13:39.080 i thought we couldn't afford houses like i'm in a dark timeline yeah you know i'm seeing this

00:13:46.600 dumpster fire of a budget from the alberta government premier daniel smith and like

00:13:51.240 it almost just reminds me of the anchorman one of my favorite parts of anchorman with

00:13:56.840 will ferrell where he's like talking to his little dog and he's like you ate the whole

00:14:01.080 wheel of cheese and you pooped in the fridge i'm not even upset it's that's impressive right it's

00:14:06.840 almost impressive how bad um this budget 2026 is where they're increasing the debt even while

00:14:15.560 hiking taxes on Albertans, right? So it's impressively bad. I would laugh if it wasn't

00:14:24.200 so upsetting right now. Now, Chris, I was the Alberta director years ago now. And I remember

00:14:30.820 whenever you would see these massive deficit numbers, governments borrowing like crazy,

00:14:36.540 you all of a sudden get some academics, some taxpayer funded academics, and even some business

00:14:42.140 groups by the way yeah i remember calling for a provincial sales tax in alberta and folks you

00:14:49.420 might know you might not but alberta i love alberta so much alberta is the only province without a

00:14:55.180 provincial sales tax so you'll often hear these taxpayer-funded academics even some business

00:14:59.340 groups pushing for sales taxes in alberta whenever you see these massive deficit numbers chris what

00:15:05.420 What do you say to that? I funny you, Franco. I've been asked that question about a PST

00:15:11.300 like six times already just since yesterday. It's amazing. So this is the perennial problem

00:15:19.000 in Alberta. OK, the government actually tried to say yesterday, basically, I'm paraphrasing,

00:15:24.040 oh, my goodness, the price of a barrel of oil isn't what we wanted it to be. And

00:15:28.100 Ottawa is being super mean to us. We're in Alberta, like the price of a barrel of oil

00:15:34.740 fluctuates all the time. And Ottawa is often a jerk. So pull your socks up and do your job. 1.00

00:15:40.140 Budget for such things. And lo and behold, as the sun rises in the east, these academics,

00:15:47.020 they were asking, these journalists, they were asking, isn't it time for us to have a PST?

00:15:52.120 Because, you know, we clearly don't have enough money. The cupboard is bare.

00:15:56.100 Really? The cupboard is so bare that you're spending another $3.5 million on art literally

00:16:03.800 made of garbage. I don't buy it at all. We don't have a, we don't have a revenue problem. We have 0.66

00:16:10.120 a spending problem big time. And it's the lazy way of getting out of something. And you won't

00:16:17.380 even get out of it either. Like the government, first of all, doesn't deserve a single cent more

00:16:21.400 from Albertans, but you know, even if you did give the government another tax, they're just

00:16:25.580 going to blow even more money. Yeah. Um, case in point, British Columbia, British Columbia,

00:16:32.040 they've got a provincial sales tax uh how are their finances doing yeah then surplus they're

00:16:38.620 stacking up cash making money no uh they've got record deficits they're a fiscal dumpster fire

00:16:44.140 speaking of which um if i hear one more growing minister or politicians say we're not doing as

00:16:51.820 bad as other provinces uh no you're in timeout you pull that with me you're in timeout because

00:16:57.960 that's like saying that you are the soberest person who's still in the drunk tank. Like we're

00:17:03.280 all still in the drunk tank now. Every province, it seems, is a disaster. But we expect better of

00:17:08.340 Alberta. We've got things like the Taxpayer Protection Act. We've got things like no PST.

00:17:12.700 We have things like recall legislation, I will remind everybody. We have referendums. We have

00:17:18.780 a really good system of direct democracy here. And people love to talk about small government,

00:17:24.020 small accountable government that picture of ralph klein holding up the paid in full sign

00:17:28.920 i'm surprised it's not like a mural as you head into calgary right now um and i know i know premier

00:17:36.140 smith really idolized him and i know that she wants to do that but you're not gonna get there

00:17:42.680 by cranking up bureaucrat pay and blowing money on nonsense you're not you're gonna have to get

00:17:50.020 tough with your own cabinet and your own departments the same way she got tough with

00:17:57.460 the Alberta teachers union when they tried to extort another two billion dollars she said

00:18:02.040 no so she's gonna have to do that again I know it's not easy but you're gonna have to do it

00:18:08.080 because we are Franco Alberta is more than a hundred billion in debt that's crazy I never

00:18:15.240 thought i'd say that like ever yeah and you know for anyone out there who's like why are you

00:18:21.260 criticizing premier smith so much i mean folks the government is borrowing almost 10 billion dollars

00:18:26.420 this year right it's nearly a 10 billion dollar deficit objectively this is very bad objectively

00:18:32.240 this is very bad and and you know you got to hold even like even if it is your own side you know

00:18:38.320 whomever you may vote for you got to expect better from them and you have to push them in the right

00:18:42.880 direction. So regardless of what party you support, you know, this is unacceptable. Now,

00:18:48.240 Chris, there's two other things I want to talk about and ask you about. So, you know, I asked

00:18:52.380 you about the sales tax. You already brought up the referendum legislation. It's one of the best

00:18:56.000 things about Alberta is that you have these legal restraints on politicians' ability to blunder

00:19:02.060 or plunder taxpayers, right? So you have stuff like the Alberta Taxpayer Protection Act that's

00:19:07.400 been in place since the mid-90s, which requires a provincial referendum before a provincial sales

00:19:12.700 tax can be brought into place. But some of these other legal restraints that you have in Alberta

00:19:18.360 are, and that you've seen in the past in Alberta are things like balanced budget legislation. You

00:19:23.400 had debt repayment schedules, you had limitations on spending growth. So Chris, you know, I'm not

00:19:29.380 an expert like you are on the specific restrictions in Alberta right now, but I mean, I'm seeing

00:19:34.380 these massive deficits. I'm seeing spending go through the roof. What's going on with these

00:19:38.720 legal restrictions i heard them say we need to uh we're seeking assistance and input on how to

00:19:46.980 reframe our fiscal plan is what they said yesterday so basically to me that sounds like

00:19:54.240 the kid who never bothered doing his homework now trying to come up with excuses um there's one that

00:19:59.940 i really wanted to highlight and i mentioned it off the top so again if they're not breaking the

00:20:05.280 rule. They're coming very close to it. So I'm reserving judgment as to whether or not they're

00:20:09.200 breaking it. But we have a rule now in Alberta, which should be great. It is this. The government

00:20:16.320 cannot increase spending by more than inflation plus population growth of the year previous.

00:20:23.500 So that sounds nerdy and wonky and stuff. But the Taxpayers Federation has been asking the Alberta

00:20:29.560 government to do this spending rule. It's a spending restraint rule since the mid 90s.

00:20:34.560 So since the Spice Girls were topping the charts, we were saying to do this.

00:20:38.640 If they had done so, okay, not cutting spending, just keeping it at the level of inflation plus population growth, just under, we would have more than $300 billion saved.

00:20:51.120 Not including interest, not including investment, just cash under your mattress.

00:20:55.480 $300 billion.

00:20:56.860 They just put this legislation through like two years ago.

00:21:01.020 they changed the Taxpayer Protection Act to finally finally have this rule and I was so happy to see

00:21:06.880 it and I'm worried to do the math now I really hope they're not breaking that spending increase

00:21:13.500 rule but I don't know all right that's the big one one last one last question that I have for

00:21:19.260 you right again I'm kind of like a thousand feet in the air right now like I'm not in in Alberta

00:21:24.000 I'm just Ottawa but uh you're my interviewer today yeah yeah so well I I just have another

00:21:29.180 question that i want to want to talk about look so from a thousand you know a thousand feet view up

00:21:33.880 in the air it kind of seemed to me like the television address that premier smith had before

00:21:38.660 the budget is that there is that smith was trying to essentially set it up like hey the budget's

00:21:44.300 going to be really bad and it's ottawa's fault that's at least what it seemed like to me from

00:21:48.580 you know thousands of miles away or however far away i am from home but you know the way i thought

00:21:54.880 about this is like, yeah, Ottawa is bad. I can tell you firsthand, Ottawa is doing a lot of bad

00:21:59.140 stuff and a lot of stuff that's hurting the Alberta government. But I look at these numbers

00:22:03.200 in the budget. And while I can admit that, you know, Alberta has an Ottawa problem, it's clear

00:22:09.200 to me that this isn't just Ottawa's fault. Like it's clear to me that Premier Smith needs to take

00:22:13.660 some responsibility for how bad this budget is. Like you can look at a lot of different spending

00:22:17.920 numbers going up in the budget. And while I can acknowledge and admit that Ottawa is really

00:22:22.380 messing with Alberta, to say the least. It also looks like Alberta and these politicians out 0.96

00:22:28.400 in Alberta need to clean up their own backyard. Yeah. To be clear, we have not taken leave of

00:22:34.580 our senses. We know that Ottawa has been blocking pipelines. We know that they had a production cap.

00:22:39.420 We know that equalization payments are a gross, gross thievery of Alberta. We know all of that.

00:22:45.880 Taxpayers Federation, we've been literally on the front lines of those fights since day one.

00:22:50.180 We get that part. But, but there are things that are happening here within the province of Alberta

00:22:58.320 that have nothing to do with the Feds. So if you've got, if you're facing down a deficit,

00:23:03.540 if you're facing down a bunch of red ink and you don't want to add to the debt,

00:23:07.640 do not hand money to the Edmonton Oilers. Seriously, why are we handing more than $100

00:23:13.380 million to the Edmonton Oilers NHL club so they can build a plaza? Why? Why? You know,

00:23:19.320 why are we handing out billions of dollars in corporate welfare? Why? Why, for example,

00:23:25.640 did they not go through AHS with a fine tooth comb, Alberta Health Services, which, by the way,

00:23:30.900 boasts on its website, they're the biggest health care union on in Canada. Like, that's a weird

00:23:36.680 flex. Okay. I went through their sunshine list, which is the threshold's way too high. It's like

00:23:42.240 $160,000 that even shows up. I went through there just quickly, like just from last year.

00:23:48.700 Franco, they still have directors directing directors for directors there.

00:23:53.080 Like scroll, scroll, scroll.

00:23:54.440 I practically fell asleep, all making well north of $100,000.

00:23:58.580 So that's got nothing to do with 24 Sussex or Rideau Hall.

00:24:03.660 It doesn't.

00:24:04.540 You get your own pot of money, and then you have to distribute it.

00:24:07.700 So we must take responsibility right here in Alberta.

00:24:11.200 And I promise you that my old friend Daniel Smith from Wild Rose would be furious at this budget.

00:24:18.060 So this is one of those things where you got to wade in and you got to say, we got to get this work done. So I'll put it this way. I know I can hear the listeners right now who really are big fans that we know. We know you're fans of Smith. Frankly, I can't speak for Franco. So am I. I understand. Okay. But this is where you have to do the hard work. I'll flip it to you this way.

00:24:38.260 Smith is in Edmonton. She's surrounded by cabinet, all demanding more money. She's surrounded by

00:24:45.920 some MLAs, not all of them, who are demanding more money for their ridings. She's surrounded

00:24:50.860 by bureaucrats, like the bureaucrats, and they're just nattering all the time. You know, it's time

00:24:56.560 for us to mature and have a sales tax. You know, it's time for us to mature and, you know, keep up

00:25:00.680 with, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah contracts. We owe it. That's a good way to cut the bureaucracy.

00:25:05.620 They mentioned PST, show them the door.

00:25:07.940 There you go.

00:25:08.700 That's one way to do it.

00:25:10.140 Alberta Teachers Association was pushing for that year over year.

00:25:13.740 So I'll put it this way.

00:25:15.260 It's up to us tax fighters who love small government and accountable government to hold this government to account.

00:25:21.460 Because if they blow the bank, what's going to happen next?

00:25:25.340 Franco, I know you got to run.

00:25:27.320 Thank you so much for letting me vent and for giving us some constructive solutions on this Alberta budget disaster.

00:25:33.300 hey that was the easiest uh interviewee interviewer role i've ever had i just kind of

00:25:39.940 gave you my thoughts asked a couple questions and you took the you took the lead that was easy for

00:25:44.800 me i phoned him yesterday just a mess thank you so much franco cheers chris once again that is

00:25:51.720 my good friend and colleague franco terrazzano he is the federal director for the canadian

00:25:56.000 taxpayers federation and uh he often likes to refer to himself as an adopted son of alberta

00:26:02.080 I know his heart is here. Again, folks, I can hear Juno listeners. Thank you so much for watching

00:26:08.660 and listening. I can hear you upset. Okay. And I can't speak for Franco, but I can hear you upset

00:26:14.380 saying, how can you go after Smith? We're not going after her personally. Okay. We know she's

00:26:20.160 hugely popular. We know she's doing some really amazing things, truly. But it's important and

00:26:28.380 sometimes, frankly, more difficult to hold your friends accountable. If this is somebody that you

00:26:34.660 don't, you know, care about or don't know personally or whatever, he can just fire away. It doesn't

00:26:38.320 really matter. But like, this is agonizing. I'll tell you, this is agonizing. I know she wants to

00:26:46.260 have that moment of holding up that sign of paid in full. I know this. Okay. But Alberta, the

00:26:53.340 government, we, the people, will not get there, okay, unless we demand more from our leaders.

00:27:02.440 And that includes things like actually going through the budget with a fine-tooth comb.

00:27:08.500 Because like I said, initially, I was like, oh, well, okay, geez, this debt is terrible.

00:27:13.480 This spending is not good. Oh, my goodness, this is a tax increase. But man, you know,

00:27:18.260 oil prices are low-ish. Alberta is being a jerk. Maybe they did really try, what is 1.00

00:27:23.300 this. And then I saw that they're giving that art foundation a funding boost after we told them

00:27:32.900 for like two years about what a terrible, insulting waste of money that was. And they're

00:27:40.060 like, here, here's $3.5 million more. To me, that's emblematic. It's indicative that they didn't do the

00:27:49.240 work. They didn't go through and find savings. Where's the cuts? Where's the willing rollbacks

00:27:56.120 of MLA salaries, just to, you know, show your principle? Where's the cuts across the board?

00:28:02.860 You know how former Premier Ralph Klein was able to hold up that sign? It wasn't just because he

00:28:07.380 had oil prices going in his direction. It's because he made cuts. So folks, please feel free to let me

00:28:14.660 know what you think in the comments. I'm doing my very best, I promise, to be very fair here.

00:28:18.660 But if we let Alberta do this, if we let Alberta go to be $100 billion in debt and shrug our

00:28:27.940 shoulders and say nothing, then we've lost it. Alberta has got to be the example of accountability 1.00

00:28:34.460 and fiscal responsibility. It starts right here. So let me know in the comments what you think

00:28:41.560 about this. Be sure to like and subscribe to this channel and be sure to head on over to

00:28:47.240 Juneau News and subscribe there because then you'll get the news you need to know.

Juno News - March 03, 2026

What’s behind Alberta’s $9B budget deficit？

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