Let’s take the budget as an example.  Mr Kenney says the purpose of his austerity policies is to balance the budget.  Well, Ms Notley has proposed an alternative budget that will get him there without pitting Albertans against each other and picking fights with other governments.  Ms Notley would reverse Mr Kenney’s $4.7 billion corporate tax cut and ask the top one percent (those earning over $315,000/year) to increase personal income taxes by one percent.  This would allow the government to maintain public services, invest in infrastructure, help diversify the economy and achieve a balanced budget by 2023/24 (one year later than Mr Kenney’s budget) with $1 billion less in accumulated deficit.

Fat lot of good the Notley budget will do us, you say.  Mr Kenney will never concede his austerity policies are doing more harm than good.  Perhaps, but Ms Notley’s point is the budget is a matter of choice.  Mr Kenney could reverse these cuts but he chooses not to do so. Albertans forced to endure the consequences of his decision (and that’s all of us by the way) will remember this when they mark their ballots in the next election.