Albertans asked to weigh in on province's fiscal plan; but will the government listen?

Global News with files from Vassy Kapelos : Tuesday, September 11, 2012 10:38 PM

EDMONTON - It's a question we often ask ourselves: when is a good time to save? Now, the province is posing that question to Albertans. Whether they'll listen to the answers they get, though, remains to be seen.

History isn't on its side. In 2002, then-premier Ralph Klein was talking about putting more money into the Heritage Trust Fund. His comments were based on a report, advising it was time for the province to save more.

Now, a decade later, the fund has been maintained, but not much has been added to it. So the province is asking Albertans the same questions once again.

"We're asking them, on a long term basis, where do you want us, the province, to go from a fiscal standpoint?" explains Kyle Fawcett, associate Minister of Finance.

Fawcett is at the helm of the latest round of consultations on saving and the Heritage Trust Fund. In the last ten years, though, there have been at least a handful of public and expert consultations on the issue. And despite many of them advising the province to save more, it hasn't happened.

When asked what's different about this round of consultations, Fawcett insists "this isn't going to be another report that's going to be sitting on a shelf."

This time, the consultations will take place in two ways: first, there's an online survey which will be up until October 31st. There are 16 questions on there, which the opposition argues are too narrow.

"You're building the frame only on spending - and only on certain parts of spending as well," claims NDP MLA David Eggen.

Critics are not just concerned over the kinds of questions being asked; they're also worried about just how public these consultations will really be.

The second format of consultations will be the minister meeting in private with financial experts, the names of whom will be made public.

According to Wildrose MLA Shayne Saskiw, if those consultations are held behind closed doors, and the results aren't made public, "then it's just another broken promise."

Fawcett, however, says the results will go into a report, which will then go to an all-party committee.

"You will see clearly in next year's budget," he adds, "the Premier Redford government setting out a long term fiscal plan for this province."

The report on what is heard during the consultations will be released in November. At this point, no specific cost for the consultations is being released, but that will happen in the future.