Q&A with poli sci prof Greg Anderson: commenting on the AB Budget and its post-secondary implications

Greg Anderson is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Alberta.

His areas of expertise include international political economy, North American integration, Canada-US relations and American foreign policy.

Q: What was your reaction when Alberta Budget 2015 was released?

A: Well it wasn’t as painful and the cuts weren’t as deep as (Alberta Premier) Jim Prentice was preparing the province to expect. But that doesn’t mean it’s painless, the pain is pretty broadly spread. You have cuts to health-care and certainly to post-secondary. You’ve got no new teachers, certainly in terms of primary education even though you have a big influx of students coming in.

Q: Do you feel like the budget will be a useful platform point in the vent Prentice calls for an election?

A: I think this budget reflects the best that the Conservative government could hope for in terms of selling it to their constituents during the election. So, yes, you don’t really want to go into an election with a “bad-news budget.”

But I think this is the best lipstick they could put on a pig, to be honest with you. I mean the fiscal situation is not good, and one area I think they threw a bit of an election bone to is corporate taxes, which they didn’t raise at all.

Certainly a lot of their donors in the oil patch, all of whom are feeling some significant pain, they didn’t want to make that pain any worse.

They can say, “hey look, we have been handed a fiscal situation due to declining oil revenues that is beyond our control, this is the best we can do to offer up a responsible path forward.”

So it’ll definitely be something to beat the voters and opposition party over the head with, but it is the soundest possible budget and least painful budget that they could have put forward.

Q: Do you think this budget makes a significant difference in getting students out to the polls?

A: Post-secondary education didn’t get hammered in this budget the way it did last time in 2013, so I’m not sure that people are paying attention. I think that when you see your tuition bill rise, or when you see more students in your classes, or when it’s harder to get those classes on Bear Tracks. I’m not even sure people will even make the connection between that and the provincial budget. Or even the declining provincial interest in post-secondary education.

Until it hits people in the pocketbook with a dramatic change, like $500 or $1,000 in tuition bills or new fees for different programs, I’m not sure that students are going to pay attention. With the budget, I’m not sure if it was dramatic enough or traumatic enough to really galvanize students. I don’t see anything in the budget that will get students up in arms, but they need to get out and vote. I always think of the 2000 presidential election, where it came down to such a tiny, tiny handful of votes.
So every vote does count, and if you don’t vote then it’s really hard to turn around and start throwing stones and complaining

If you don’t take time to vote, I’m not sure what kind of healthy democracy we’ve got.