Dear Calgary-Currie,
Budget 2024-25 will be tabled this month, and there is no better way to gauge a government’s priorities than by seeing what they fund. It’s challenging to follow what is a new commitment of funding, a re-announcement of something old, and when the money actually flows out. Equally difficult is keeping track of whether there’s a net increase to the system, or if it simply moves money from one program to another, benefiting one while cutting another. And take note, funding that fails to keep up with inflation and population increases equates to cuts.
November’s fiscal update reported a stunning $5.5 billion surplus. We know these surplus figures shift wildly with the ebb and flow of oil prices. So, when times are good will we make the critical investments in our public systems that keep us healthy, housed, and educated? These investments help us shine in the peak times and sustain us in the low ones.
We have a severe shortage of healthcare workers; will the government meaningfully invest in hiring doctors and nurses to improve the system?
We sit dead last in per student funding in the entire country and classrooms in our public schools are overcrowded; will there be money to hire teachers and educational assistants and build new schools?
We are in a housing crisis and struggling to get construction on new homes started; will there be new investments in affordable housing?
We have had the highest tuition increases in all of Canada; will funding to post-secondary institutions be restored and increased?
Rent, utilities, and car insurance rates are skyrocketing; will the province take any measures to prevent those shocks?
In addition, Calgary-Currie residents talk to us about the unhoused in their communities, safe public transit, small business worries, and retirement security, especially protecting their CPP.
As budget deliberations begin, I welcome your ideas and feedback.
Stay warm and take care!
MLA – Calgary Currie Janet Eremenko proudly serves the following Communities: Bankview, Currie, Glenbrook, Glendale, Killarney-Glengarry, Richmond-Knob Hill, Rosscarrock, Rutland Park, Scarboro, Scarboro/Sunalta West, Shaganappi, Spruce Cliff, Sunalta, Westgate
