Western Standard - Premier Danielle Smith Outlines Plan to Support Alberta Families

00:00:00.000 My fellow Albertans, Alberta's economy is entering yet another period of major economic

00:00:24.880 growth as all of us well know our provinces long enjoyed a significant employment cost of living

00:00:30.960 and income tax advantage over all other provinces and most u.s states that alberta advantage is

00:00:37.280 acting as a significant catalyst for the infusion of tens of billions of new investment dollars

00:00:43.360 into the alberta economy for new energy agriculture health care manufacturing technology and other

00:00:50.160 large-scale projects and new business ventures. This means tens of thousands of new job openings

00:00:56.080 in Alberta each month, which means thousands of new people and their families moving here to help

00:01:01.280 fill those new job positions. Last year alone, an all-time record of over 200,000 people moved to

00:01:08.760 Alberta. That's like adding two new red deer-sized cities in just one year. Now, Alberta has always

00:01:14.560 welcomed newcomers who possess our shared values, and we will continue to do so, welcoming those who

00:01:19.980 believe in working hard, protecting our freedoms, contributing to society, following the rule of law

00:01:25.900 and who have a deep respect for other cultures and faiths different from their own have long been a

00:01:31.140 strength of our provincial culture and history. Equally as important though, Canada's previous

00:01:36.240 immigration policies under leaders like Prime Minister Stephen Harper as an example, focused on

00:01:41.700 ensuring that immigration levels matched our nation's economic needs and was commensurate with

00:01:47.100 ability to build enough houses and infrastructure to keep up with that growth. However, the Trudeau

00:01:53.100 government's unrestrained open border policies, permitting well over a million newcomers each

00:01:58.300 year into Canada, is causing significant challenges and has broken this delicate balance.

00:02:04.140 These historically high immigration levels, especially as it relates to those with temporary

00:02:09.020 visas, is exacerbating shortages in housing, job opportunities for young people, as well as health, 0.98

00:02:15.500 education and other social services infrastructure in a manner that is a severe challenge for all

00:02:21.020 provinces to keep up with, including our own. This drives up the cost of living and strains

00:02:26.380 public services for everyone, new Albertans, lifelong Albertans, and everyone in between.

00:02:31.900 So I am joining with other premiers across our country and calling on the current federal

00:02:35.900 government to immediately reintroduce sensible and restrained immigration policies, similar to levels

00:02:41.580 we saw under Stephen Harper so that all provinces have some time and resources to sustainably catch 0.82

00:02:47.580 up with growth and to ensure those coming here closely align with our country's economic needs

00:02:52.860 and our core values. And if the current federal government won't make these changes, our government

00:02:57.740 will certainly support a new one that will. In the meantime, people from all over Canada

00:03:03.020 and around the world are still coming to our province by the tens of thousands each month

00:03:08.300 and we have to do what we can to keep up. Not only that, we have to do so while continuing

00:03:13.420 to balance our provincial budget and delivering on our promised income tax cut in the next budget

00:03:18.540 that will help all Albertans offset the loss of income that Albertans face from the federal

00:03:23.260 carbon tax and other inflation driving policies from Ottawa. One of the most critical growth

00:03:29.100 shortages we are experiencing is found in our K-12 education system. After several years of very

00:03:34.700 modest student enrollment growth from around 2015 through the COVID years, Alberta's student

00:03:39.980 population is now surging in an unprecedented fashion. We estimate that it is increasing about

00:03:47.100 33,000 students per year. That is the equivalent to roughly 35 new schools each year. And although

00:03:54.300 budget 2024 allocated a record 2.1 billion for new school construction and modernizations over

00:04:00.940 the next three years to add about 33 000 new spaces this is simply not enough for the growth

00:04:07.100 we are experiencing fortunately our province enjoyed a provincial surplus this past year

00:04:13.420 and prospects for another modest surplus this year are looking good that strong financial position

00:04:19.340 gives us the flexibility we need to make a large one-time capital investment into our k-12 school

00:04:25.100 system to manage this massive growth without having to go into deficit. And that is exactly

00:04:30.700 what our government is going to do. I am announcing today that our cabinet and treasury board have

00:04:36.620 approved a new school construction accelerator program to help keep up with our province's

00:04:42.300 exploding student enrollment growth. Here's how the new program will work. We will be increasing

00:04:47.900 our K-12 capital budget for new school spaces and modernizations to approximately $8.6 billion

00:04:54.540 over the next three years. This will allow us to complete actual construction on approximately

00:05:00.080 50,000 new student spaces over the next three years, and to complete and open 150,000 new

00:05:07.000 spaces over the next four years after that. This is quite literally the fastest and largest build

00:05:13.120 our province can manage, given available construction workforce capacity and the time

00:05:18.060 it takes to permit, prepare, and service available school sites. Although most of these school

00:05:23.140 construction funds will be used to build new schools we will need to implement a stop gap

00:05:27.940 solution as we ramp up to full construction capacity that is why this new program will also

00:05:33.700 fund the purchase of new specialized modular classrooms to provide over 20 000 new student

00:05:39.620 spaces over the next four years further as our government is wholly committed to the principle

00:05:45.220 of providing school choice for parents we will be using a portion of this new funding to pilot a

00:05:50.980 charter school accelerator program designed to add 12 500 new charter school student spaces

00:05:57.700 over the next four years and finally we are also developing a school capital pilot program for

00:06:03.780 non-profit private schools to incentivize investment in the creation of thousands of new

00:06:09.300 independent school student spaces at a reduced per student cost to taxpayers there is no time

00:06:16.020 to lose in getting our school construction accelerator program off the ground right now

00:06:20.500 To accelerate school construction immediately our cabinet has just approved full construction

00:06:25.220 funding for new school projects but we need all hands on deck to begin construction on many more

00:06:31.220 schools before the end of this school year. Oftentimes the only thing holding back construction

00:06:37.060 of a new school is a school board or municipality not having the site prepared or permitted for

00:06:42.900 construction. That is why I'm asking all school boards to work with their respective municipalities

00:06:47.860 and the ministry of education on an expedited basis to get priority school sites permitted

00:06:53.300 serviced and otherwise prepared for immediate construction work if you can prepare the sites

00:06:59.060 the province will have the dollar set aside to get shovels in the ground same goes for our charter

00:07:03.860 schools bring us proposals and permits for new shovel ready projects and renovations that will

00:07:09.700 result in new student spaces and we will work with you on making an appropriate level of funding

00:07:14.740 available depending on the project and municipalities we ask that you make this a top priority in your

00:07:21.060 communities especially in our high growth areas such as calgary edmonton rocky view and other

00:07:26.260 growing mid-sized cities cut the red tape permit and service the sites to our public catholic

00:07:32.180 charter and private schools we must all lend ourselves to this effort together obviously

00:07:37.860 our provincial growth will necessitate expansion and investment in other areas in addition to

00:07:43.220 education health and transportation infrastructure most especially and that is also being worked on

00:07:49.140 daily but this school construction accelerator program is ready to commence now so let's work

00:07:55.060 together to build the schools create the spaces and hire the teachers we need so our children have

00:08:01.140 what they need to flourish grow and build their lives with because providing the next generation

00:08:05.860 of Albertans with unprecedented opportunity here at home is what the Alberta Advantage is really

00:08:11.380 all about our province has become a beacon of freedom opportunity quality of life and

00:08:16.660 prosperity for millions across our country and around the world and with that incredible success

00:08:22.580 comes very real growth challenges but we are albertan there has never been nor will there

00:08:28.420 ever be any challenge too large for us to overcome and conquer together

00:08:33.380 may our province forever remain strong and free thank you and good night

00:08:41.380 You

Western Standard - September 18, 2024

Premier Danielle Smith Outlines Plan to Support Alberta Families

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