Sherwood Park MLA Kasawski: Invest now or pay later

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When it comes to government spending, investing now or paying later are inevitable choices.

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Affording everything presently is not usually possible, so we prioritize and choose the investment opportunities today with the highest prospects for positive outcomes long term.

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That is what we should be doing in Alberta with investment into seniors care, education, health care, and affordable housing. However, for the past five years, we have been avoiding investing now, and choosing to have future Albertans pay later.

There are currently 745,000 seniors in Alberta, and it is forecasted that we will have 1.5 million living here by 2043. Demand for seniors’ services is increasing and will continue to rise the years ahead.

Since the UCP was elected in 2019, funding to help seniors live healthy lives has been going down. For example, $8.5 million has been cut from Special Needs Assistance for Seniors — a service that supports Alberta seniors to age in community. Seventy-five per cent of health outcomes for seniors are determined by social determinants of health so why is the UCP cutting special needs assistance for a growing population group when investing now will save us from paying for more costly health care services later?

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The population of Alberta is now over 4.8 million. We spend more money on health care, education, and just about every other category of the provincial budget simply because there are more of us in Alberta now than ever before. Additionally, with inflation, the cost of infrastructure and services goes up. But we are investing less per person in key priorities like K-12 education. We are the richest province per capita, and Alberta has the lowest funded public education system in the country. The average investment per student across Canada is $13,332. In Alberta we are investing just $11,601 per student.

When the government boasts it is spending more on education than ever before, know that the total budget is larger but the amount invested per student is much lower. Investment in public education is the key to a prosperous society because it gives students opportunities to develop creativity, critical-thinking skills, and a strong ability to learn. Failing to invest in public education now means we will pay later with lower economic productivity, higher health care costs, and a less prosperous province.

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Premier Danielle Smith and the UCP regularly set aspirational targets far off into the future for health outcomes, the environment, and population growth, usually the year 2050, for some reason. We can have a prosperous, healthy and productive future in our province but not with magical thinking. Proper investment in core priorities such as public education, affordable housing, care of seniors, and health care services is needed now.

So far, the UCP is shortchanging present-day Albertans and asking future Albertans to pay later, one way or another.

Please reach out to me if you have any thoughts on this or other issues that are top of mind for you.

Kyle Kasawski is the MLA for Sherwood Park. If you have questions about this column or any provincial issues, he would like to hear from you. Find his contact information at meetkyle.ca.

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