Sunday, January 25, 2009

Yesterday's Words Didn't Happen

Last week, Stelmach was threatening major budget cuts - a la the Klein approach of the early 90s. Of course, we all know how well that went - Calgary's still paying the price for that era.

"I don't want to underestimate the difficulties we're going to face as Albertans," Stelmach told the Calgary Herald. "We may go back to the same strategies we used in the early 1990s," he added.

The so-called Klein Revolution saw the government roll back wages and cut thousands of public-sector jobs to help escape deficits and pay off a $23-billion debt.


Those statements are apparently inoperative now. Or, so Stelmach would like us to believe:

Just last week, Premier Ed Stelmach told reporters in Ottawa the province may need to consider rolling back spending, akin to the days of former premier Ralph Klein, when it comes to budgeting for next year.

Back in Edmonton, the premier insisted he never used the word "cuts." On Thursday afternoon, cabinet ministers were not going to do it for him.


No, Ed, you simply invoked what Klein did in the early 90s - do you really think we're that stupid? If you're going to lie, try telling a fib we can't check the facts on so easily.

Personally, I think if we're going to talk about cutting back government, I'd say we start with blatant wastefulness like this.

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