McGowan urges citizens and reporters to use the list as protection against the “avalanche of b***s*** that the UCP is about to dump on our province”
EDMONTON, Alberta, Oct. 07, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Kenney government is about to make devastating cuts to education, health care and other vital public services based on “distortions and outright lies” about things like public-sector spending and public-sector wages, says the president of Alberta’s largest worker advocacy organization.
“If the UCP wants public support for deep cuts to public services and infrastructure, then they have an obligation to prove that the current deficit is truly a crisis and that it’s truly the result of inappropriate spending and not something else,” says Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour.
“They’re messing with things like health care for our parents and education for our kids and other services that provide an important foundation for our economy. Cuts of the magnitude they’re considering would undermine that foundation and throw out economy into a tailspin. So, they have an obligation to demonstrate that there is truly no other alternative.”
“But so far, the Kenney government is failing in this obligation. They’re basing their fiscal roadmap on the MacKinnon report, which is NOT really an objective assessment of Alberta’s public-sector finances. Instead, it’s a thinly-veiled ideological screed, aimed at providing political cover for a government that’s already made up its mind to cut regardless of the need or the consequences.”
McGowan says that while Janice MacKinnon may be a darling of the political right in Canada, her report is filled with distortions and outright lies about public services, public-sector spending and public-sector wages.
“If you have bad information, you’re going to end up making bad decisions. And that’s exactly what’s happening with the UCP and the MacKinnon report, right now,” says McGowan.
“This is most certainly NOT the way we should be making critical decisions about the public services and public-sector infrastructure that form such an important part of the foundation of our economy.”
As a service to Albertans, McGowan says the AFL has prepared a list of the top 10 lies and distortions being used by the UCP to support their political narrative that there is no alternative to deep cuts. Here is the list.
“Both citizens and members of the media should carry this list around with them over the next month or two to act as a shield and antidote against the avalanche of b***s*** that’s about to be dumped on them,” concludes McGowan.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Ramona Franson
Director of Communications
rfranson@afl.org