Editorial

At first glance, the budget Premier Alison Redford’s Alberta Tories served up on Feb. 9 is pretty hearty.
   It heaps hundreds of millions of more dollars into education, health care and family services without hiking taxes or slashing a single department budget. There are sprinkles of new schools, roads and health services. There are boosted payments to Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) program recipients; more cash for agencies that support vulnerable children, families and those with developmental disabilities to help recruit and retain staff.; and $500 million for student financial assistance.
Topping it off is a sparkling proverbial cherry of a promise Alberta will be out of the red within a year.
Best to belly up to the dinner table because it’s a feast Albertans won’t want to miss.
Don’t worry about the bill. “Alison in Wonderland,” as she was dubbed by a rival party, has it covered. There’s billions to raid from the piggy bank, and don’t forget that forecasted boom in non-renewable resource revenues. That’ll cover it. After all, isn’t that how Average Joe Albertan plans his spending splurges? By banking on a future raise because he’s sure that this is the year that the figure on his paycheque jumps?
There’s no denying this is a pre-election budget aimed at wooing potential voters. Trouble is, it’s a budget built on ice as sturdy as that on Henderson Lake after a week of 10 C temperatures.
The plan, as reported by The Canadian Press, is predicated on the price of oil staying high and even soaring to an average of US$108 a barrel by 2014.
It currently sits close to US$100 a barrel.
The bottom line amounts to an $886 million deficit, the fifth in a row after 14 years of surpluses.
The budget boosts government spending by 3.3 per cent to a record $41.1 billion.
Program spending is up almost seven per cent, with substantial raises for education, health, cities and money for the most vulnerable.
The bills are to be paid for with rising oil revenues, higher taxes from a growing population and a $3.7-billion drawdown from the $7.5 billion Sustainability Fund.
The budget projects that with oil revenues and population growth, there will be a $952 million budget surplus next year and a $5.2 billion surplus the year after that.
Those are some fantastic numbers that have left many scratching their heads because they believe them to be too high. The Tories’ crystal ball better be accurate. The province can’t afford to see those projected revenues turn out to be more of a bust than a boom. Because if they do, Average Joe is the guy who’s going to be left footing the bill.

“David has paid a high price.”
   That’s part of the statement issued by the family members of a 35-year-old disabled man who died after being bathed in scalding water at a Calgary care facility on Oct. 23, 2011. The man, identified only as “David,” was non-verbal with a severe form of epilepsy. His bath resulted in burns to 20 per cent of his body.
David underwent four plastic surgeries and a bowel operation. David died five weeks later after the incident.
On Jan. 30, the provincial investigation of the man’s death was released. It found that the care worker didn’t adequately keep the man safe.
Seniors Minister George VanderBurg said in a Canadian Press news story that he has ordered temperature regulators to be installed at facilities that deal with people with developmental disabilities.
Staff will also have to follow improved safety procedures when bathing disabled people.
He says the government will step up inspections of private group homes that have less than four disabled residents.
The government also says it will also do more to ensure people who operate such homes understand and follow the rules.
It’s been reported the temperature control regulators will be installed at about 1,000 facilities and homes at a cost of $1.5 million. That’s a small price to pay when it comes to the safety of Alberta’s disabled and most helpless citizens.
It’s unfortunate, though, that it took a death for the province to look at boosting its safety rules.
“If his death results in improvements in the safety and dignity of care for Albertans with disabilities, and indeed others who are also in care (such as seniors and children), we can all derive some comfort from knowing that David’s life and death had meaning and purpose beyond the happiness he gave to his family and friends,” his family said in a statement.
Dr. Alex Hilliyard, CEO of Persons with Developmental Disabilities, echoed those sentiments in a Canadian Press article.
“We must do everything we can to ensure a tragedy like this does not happen again here in Calgary or anywhere else in the province,” he said.
It is important that David’s death not be in vain. As the family looks ahead at the changes being made to the system that stole David’s life as a positive in a horrific situation, we have to remember that these organizations are entrusted to care for those who can not care for themselves. And these people deserve far better care than David received.

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The independent review of MLA pay scheduled for Lethbridge on Jan. 30 was cancelled after no one registered to give submissions.
   It’s easy to blame the lack of participation on the mindset of “last-minute Lethbridge,” which couldn’t commit to a hearing a week in advance, but maybe residents aren’t as concerned with MLAs’ paycheques for another reason.
The commission heard on Jan. 23 that the base salary for Alberta politicians is $78,000 — second lowest in Canada — but goes up to an average of $125,000 once special allowances, committee stipends and RRSP contributions kick in, according to the Canadian Press.
Government documents released last year, according to the Canadian Press, suggest the average is even higher at around $160,000.
Depending on what side of the fence you’re standing on, $160,000 can look like a nice chunk of change.
When the Canadian Press put together its annual “the superrich make more than you do” piece earlier this year, it stated the average Canadian working full time in 2010 made $44,366. (For those who are wondering, by noon on Jan. 3 the average top executive made as much money as the average Canadian worker makes in a year.) A Canadian earning a wage of $44,000 a year will have to labour for more than 3.5 years to earn what an Alberta MLA does in one year.
That’s not to say MLAs don’t do important work. They do, and it’s a job only a handful jump at.
But perhaps rather than concerning themselves with what the guys and gals at the top earn, the majority of Canadians are preoccupied with the bottom-level earners.
The Canadian Press article about the superrich went on to state that regular Canadians have seen their wages stagnate over the past few years. In 2010, after adjusting for inflation, average wages actually fell. That means many are figuring out how to meet basic needs on less income. It’s not an easy task.
The perceived disinterest should not be taken as Albertans giving the province free rein to decide the pay MLAs receive, but it is unfair for former Supreme Court Justice John Major to make a sweeping statement that the issue is “something that didn’t spark people’s interest enough to participate.”
Maybe Albertans are interested in the issue and maybe they’re not, but preoccupation shouldn’t be confused with disinterest. An MLA’s salary cut (or hike) doesn’t directly put more food on the table of a single mother of three. An MLA’s salary cut doesn’t directly help a struggling university student pay tuition. An MLA’s salary cut doesn’t help a senior purchase a Lethbridge Transit pass.
In the meantime, Major continues his two-week tour of the province, gathering public submissions on how much MLAs should be paid and who should decide future pay hikes with a meeting in Calgary on Feb. 2. Online submissions will be accepted until Feb. 24.
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Literacy is more than reading, says ABC Life Literacy Canada.
   The group that created Family Literacy Day, a national awareness initiative held annually on Jan. 27, recently had Ipsos Reid conduct a survey on ABC’s behalf. The findings revealed that 62 per cent of the 1,000 parents between the ages of 18 and 55 polled agreed that they don’t have as much time as they’d like to spend helping their kids learn. That comes as 70 per cent of respondents agree that they are their child’s best teacher.
Time-crunched parents, do not despair. There are easy ways to bump up the time spent teaching your children.
Reading was the most common activity parents were likely to engage in with their children daily, followed by helping with homework, playing games, using a computer, writing stories or visiting a library.
“We know that people are pressed for time, so what we’re suggesting is take a look at the activities that you participate in with your families and see that there are inherent learning moments within those activities that you can engage with your child and enjoy,” Margaret Eaton, president of ABC Life Literacy Canada, said in a news release.
Those learning moments come in every-day activities.
For example, while 14 per cent said they always use paying their bills as a learning opportunity for their children, most never (27 cent) or rarely (28 per cent) use the occasion as a teachable moment.
As for cooking or baking, 27 per cent of respondents say they always use the time while whipping up a dish as a learning moment for their kids — signifying that the majority do not.
Kids can learn about matching, measurement and colours while parents do laundry, but only 19 per cent of parents surveyed said they always use the household chore as a teachable moment.
Along the same idea, during grocery store visits  encourage children to identify fruits or vegetables of a particular colour in the product section.
Eaton said discussing the day’s news events or what was read online earlier in the day can help improve kids’ vocabulary and get them thinking about and sharing opinions on issues.
The whole idea behind Family Literacy Day is to celebrate adults and kids reading and learning together, and to encourage Canadians to spend at least 15 minutes enjoying a learning activity as a family every day. The group says just 15 minutes a day can improve a child’s literacy skills dramatically, and can help a parent improve their skills as well.
Literacy is more than reading and learning is a lifelong journey, says ABC Life Literacy Canada. While reading books to children is beneficial, it can’t be ignored that daily life, such as cooking supper, filling the washing machine and grocery shopping, presents its own learning opportunities. The benefit to parents who use those opportunities to teach and learn is the easing of the stress of not reading x number of books every day, and for their children, they pave the way to lifelong success.