SaskPoliticker answered questions from reporters on Alberta’s 2024-25 Budget, before speaking on the details of a Progressive Conservative Budget

As Federal Finance Minister, what are your thoughts on Alberta’s new budget today?

“You know, I’m rather disappointed. I think we’ve all been let down, no doubt Albertans especially. You heard the Government talk a big talk about getting off the rollercoaster, about saving for the future and reducing our reliance on the price of oil, but we didn’t see that today. I was happy to support that message, but that message isn’t present in the numbers. I’m truly disappointed.”

What were you hoping to see in Alberta’s budget?

“Well I think it’s obvious that I was looking for what was promised, a responsible plan to stop wasting the wealth of Albertans. We didn’t see that. You know, it’s great that the province boosted spending in key areas. Those were good decisions that I wanted to see that we did see today. As well, you know, I wanted to see Alberta commit to not squandering their surpluses on debt reduction, when savings reduces debt far faster in the long-run, that was a choice that we did see Alberta make that I’m pleased with, but really that choice fell short because we also heard that Alberta has no plans to allocate funds to the HSTF. That just won’t cut it for Albertans.”

How is your federal budget shaping up given your criticism of Alberta’s budget today?

“Well ironically, I’d say, given our plans this fiscal year not only is Ottawa in a good position, but our provinces will be in a good position.

Prior to our plan for a 4-Day Work Week, which, by the way is such an obvious choice for Canada and a revolutionary economic policy and opportunity, we were going to run a modest deficit this year of around $15 billion, which is around a $24 billion improvement over previous projections for 2024.

This improvement resulted in several ways. Firstly, we cut about $25 billion in corporate subsidies across Canada, and unsurprisingly because these subsidies were so distortionary and damaging in our economy, we’ll see economic growth as a result of that cut which has provided modest revenue boosts to both Ottawa and the provinces. Our Government will see a boost of over $400 million from resultant growth.

Secondly, our Government cut transfers to wealthy Canadians. You know, some people might find it shocking, and I certainly did, that Ottawa planned to spend $10 billion on transfers to Canadians with incomes above $150,000 a year! For what reason would we subsidize well-off Canadians to the tune of $10 billion? That cut in itself nearly paid for the GST cut, which was worth just over $11 billion in tax revenue, broad-based relief for all Canadians, a much wiser expense.

Thirdly, our Government’s cuts lead to significantly lower projected interest payments on debt than previously projected.

But I’d like to talk about where we are now, because of our new plan for economic growth in 2024. We’ve seen around the world that the 4-Day Work Week consistently improves productivity by over 20% in most cases. We decided to be cautious and assume an increase of 15%. Adding to that caution, we assume only 50% of Canadian businesses will adopt a 4-Day Work Week after our planned national experiment, whereas in the UK and elsewhere 90% or more of companies that tried the 4-Day Week kept it.

We tax about 21% of the economy, so our approximate revenue gain from this policy is massive, amounting to $37 billion. This historic fiscal turnaround puts Canada in the black with a sizeable surplus this year of $21.8 billion, with respective surpluses of $21.1 billion in 2025, $17.1 billion in 2026, $12.5 billion in 2027, and $13.8 billion in 2028.

All of this accounts for all previously planned spending and tax cuts, as well as for meeting our NATO defence spending targets by 2027, 2028 at the latest. I’m proud to have overseen this turnaround as Finance Minister, and I will dedicate these surpluses to the Canada Futures Fund to build Canadian wealth well into the future. Thank you.”