EDMONTON - Twenty well-known academics, advocates and journalists will take part in four panel discussions at Premier Alison Redford’s Economic Summit in Calgary on Saturday.
The talks will focus on public expectations, revenue and responsible spending, along with a more general introductory session called “Alberta’s economy.”
The outcome of the talks won’t affect the 2013 budget due March 7, which is nearly complete, but Redford said Thursday she will attend the sessions with an open mind.
“We were never planning for this summit to be a conversation that would inform final decisions on the budget,” Redford said, adding the goal is to share ideas with thoughtful, interested Albertans.
“This summit this weekend is about a different way, frankly, of developing public policy.”
Redford announced the summit in her televised address on Jan. 24 and more than 300 people are expected to attend, including all 87 MLAs, along with academics and leaders from Alberta municipalities, unions and business circles.
Panellists include University of Alberta economist Joseph Doucet and University of Calgary tax expert Jack Mintz, Wildrose strategist Tom Flanagan, Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan and Scotiabank economist Mary Webb.
The summit comes less than two years after the province spent $7 million to fund a two-year study of Alberta’s economy under the guidance of former federal cabinet minister David Emerson.
The 112-page report from the Premier’s Council for Economic Strategy proposed weaning government off oilsands revenue within a decade.
Emerson said Thursday he met with Redford to discuss the report in January 2012 and he supports the summit initiative because it might help to build political consensus around what needs to be done.
“It’s never a bad idea to have a conference, but you can conference yourself to death. … At some point, community and political leaders are just going to have to articulate the reality of life to Albertans, and I think Albertans are ready to deal with those hard issues,” Emerson said.
He said Albertans need to come to grips with the fact that they spend more than they bring in, and they’re filling the gap with resource revenue that belongs to future generations.
“I can’t believe that Alberta families sitting around the kitchen table won’t understand that we’ve got a long-term issue here, and that if we want to take care of our kids and our grandkids we’ve got to start investing our resource revenue.”
Wildrose Opposition leader Danielle Smith will attend but said she doubts whether anything useful will emerge from the talks.
“I don’t think we’re going to get anything meaningful out of this. I think what we see the premier doing is setting the stage for a tax increase,” she said.
“She’s not going to do it this budget year, but it’s pretty clear tax increases are on the table in subsequent years and frankly, it’s a broken promise.”
NDP Leader Brian Mason announced Thursday his party will be touring seven Alberta cities asking Albertans what they want to see in the budget and the way they could solve the financial crisis.
“We’ll be using that to become stronger advocates in the budget debate that’s going to come when the budget is introduced in early March,” Mason said.
Liberal Leader Raj Sherman will attend and urged the premier to put taxes back on the table.
“This is a time for leadership and decisions,” he said. “It’s not a time for discussions.”
The Edmonton Journal