Finance minister to make stop in Calgary for invite-only budget consultations
Posted Jan 10, 2017 11:28 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Alberta’s Finance Minister Joe Ceci has launched three weeks of provincial budget consultations ahead of the March budget release.
Ceci will be stopping in nine cities, as the government collects feedback up to February 3.
However, there are some concerns about how much access Albertans will have to the meetings.
Ceci calls it the public part of the consultation process, but he admits it’s by invitation only and that’s just the way they’ve organized it this time.
“For Budget 2015, I went largely to business groups the first time. The second time, for Budget 2016, I went to both business groups and community sector services groups,” he said.
One city he won’t be stopping in is the recovering Fort McMurray, which still needs a lot of help from the provincial government.
Ceci says no slight is intended, adding there was a pre-budget meeting there last year.
“This is just an opportunity to see other places where I haven’t been to, and we’re going to take that approach,” he said.
The minister will be in Calgary on January 20.
Ceci says the 15 Calgary MLAs have heard concerns loud and clear.
“And know about the frustrations in terms of the number of people who are unemployed, the challenges around the energy sector,” he said.
He says there’s no shortage of information to help him craft the budget.
