Friday, June 19, 2009

Crazy, evil old man reminds us why we should be glad we're rid of him

Gut social programs, ruin lives, cripple the economy by cutting spending during a recession which nobody sane since Woodrow Wilson has thought was a good idea - anything rather than making the rich and big corporations contribute even a little more to the social contract. Thank God we got rid of him.

CALGARY - Former premier Ralph Klein criticized the Alberta government's return to deficits Thursday, suggesting he'd make a five to 10 per cent spending cut across the board.

Klein, speaking in Calgary at a security conference, said he's philosophically opposed to deficits, noting his government introduced a provincial law banning fiscal shortfalls.

The Stelmach government amended that law this spring, as it forecast a $4.71-billion deficit in its $36.4-billion budget. The province plans to drain its emergency savings to pay for four straight years of expected shortfalls, totalling $10.3 billion.

While stating he doesn't tend to comment on Premier Ed Stelmach's performance, Klein offered his successor advice on dealing with a steep plunge in resource revenues: Cut government services.

"Ten per cent or five per cent . . . across the board. Everything," the former premier told reporters after his speech.

At the start of Klein's 14-year tenure as premier, he drastically reduced government spending and public sector jobs to slay a$23-billion debt. The province declared itself debt-free in 2004.

"We shrunk government from 30,000 to 20,000 employees. We rolled back salaries by five per cent. We got rid of our pension plans, so there are a lot of things that can be done," Klein said.

No comments:

Popular Posts