| The Klein government was so prepared, so well organized when it attacked the deficit in the 1990s that even opponents admired their competence. There was a military precision to the way they slashed budgets, fired civil servants and privatized.
There was such a blitzkrieg of major announcements that the news media, opposition and citizens in general were left reeling. How could one absorb what was happening let alone mount a coherent objection? The Klein gang was nothing if not efficient.
So where are they now? Here we are in the middle of an economic boom the likes of which the province hasn’t experienced since the 1980s and chaos abounds. There aren’t enough workers. Businesses are left begging, some are even closing down. We’re importing foreign workers and turning them into serfs. Our universities, colleges and technical schools are turning away qualified students because they don’t have enough space or faculty. Health regions are way over budget because demand for medical services is so high. There isn’t enough housing, especially affordable housing so the number of homeless is rising. Fort McMurray, the oil sands epi-centre has had to resort to housing people in rows and rows of trailers. Rural folk must deal with polluted air and water because exploration companies seem to be able to do whatever they want.
Alberta isn’t Lebanon. The boom didn’t suddenly attack us when we were looking the other way. The price of oil has been rising for some time now. Oil sands development has been in the works for several years. No one knows this better than the provincial government which has been regularly raking in billions of dollars in surpluses even though Alberta has absurdly low royalty rates.
But, it would seem this government favours the casino approach to an overheated economy: those who are lucky enough to cash in are free to cash in, the rest are on their own. Two sets of numbers released in the same week by the City of Calgary illustrate the point perfectly. First came the results of the biennial homeless count. This is the painstaking survey which sees volunteers venturing into homeless shelters, alleys and underpasses to find out how many people are without a roof over their heads on one particular night of the year. The survey also includes people staying in women’s shelters, hospitals, jails and other temporary housing who would be on the street otherwise.
This year’s count found that there were 3,436 homeless people in Calgary on the night of May 10. That's a 32.3 per cent increase since the count was last conducted in 2004. It’s become too easy to equate the homeless with aggressive panhandlers who look as though they could easily work if they wanted to. But, most of the homeless are invisible. About 22 per cent of them are women; 200 of the homeless counted this year were under the age of 12; 125 were under the age of five. When was it that the concept of homeless children became acceptable to us? And let’s not forget that this count doesn’t include people who are working but are housed in campgrounds because they can’t find any other accommodation. Or people who are bunking in with friends or relatives because they can’t find a place of their own.
The provincial government knew the number of homeless was rising, the 2004 homeless count proved it. But, it ignored the data and decided that poor people could simply fend for themselves, even though this provincial government has more money than any other jurisdiction in North America.
A few days after the homeless count, the city released another set of numbers. This one had to do with building permits rather than the homeless. At the midpoint of 2006, total building permits amounted to $2.13 billion, up 19 per cent from $1.8 billion recorded over the same period in 2005.
According to Gary Klassen, director of the city’s development and building approvals department, since Calgary recorded over $3.6 billion in building value for all of 2005, it looks like we are set to surpass that this year. So, the number of homeless rises 32 per cent over two years while the value of building permits (an indicator of future construction) rises by 19 per cent over one year. It would seem that despite all the money being funnelled into construction projects we just can’t organize enough affordable housing.
How is it possible that the guys who were so good at organizing a complete overhaul of provincial government budgets and services can’t organize affordable housing for people who come to Alberta in search of a better life, people who want to work? Is it because they much prefer pulling things apart, slashing and burning, to building a sound society. Or because they simply couldn’t care less?
Gillian Steward is publisher of Alberta Views Magazine. |
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