Jason Kenney reaches for economic heights with a race to the bottom – Macleans.ca
Premier Jason Kenney, with his new economic recovery
plan Monday, had some words to encourage those of us who despair that
too many of Alberta’s eggs are in one black, tarry basket.
His government has “sector-specific strategies” coming for forestry,
tourism, aviation and more. Having shredded the former NDP government’s
tech firm incentive programs—and some degree of sectoral confidence with
it—Kenney promises bold, new startup incentive grants to replace them.
And to finance this newfound bit of interventionism, Finance Minister
Travis Toews casually discarded years of his United Conservative Party’s
deficit-hawk dogma by noting a difference between “good debt” and “bad
debt”—the sort of thing his crew would pillory Rachel Notley’s New
Democrats for saying.
plan Monday, had some words to encourage those of us who despair that
too many of Alberta’s eggs are in one black, tarry basket.
His government has “sector-specific strategies” coming for forestry,
tourism, aviation and more. Having shredded the former NDP government’s
tech firm incentive programs—and some degree of sectoral confidence with
it—Kenney promises bold, new startup incentive grants to replace them.
And to finance this newfound bit of interventionism, Finance Minister
Travis Toews casually discarded years of his United Conservative Party’s
deficit-hawk dogma by noting a difference between “good debt” and “bad
debt”—the sort of thing his crew would pillory Rachel Notley’s New
Democrats for saying.
Kenney seemed most animated about his new rescue plan for his
province’s recessionary economy when he was talking about his pitch to
steal financial firms away from Toronto. As of Wednesday, Alberta’s
corporate tax rate will fall to eight per cent, down three points from
the current rate and 3.5 percentage points below Ontario’s.