Lorne Gunter: Very bad optics for province to claw back disability benefit and fund fan park |
Why can’t politicians understand that the tax money they spend comes from the same, one source — you and me?
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A lot of readers have recently wondered what I think of the Alberta government’s decision to claw back the new $200-a-month Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) from the amount the province pays monthly in AISH (Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped).
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Meanwhile, just as many readers have wondered about my take on the province giving buckets of money to the new fan park to be built just east of Rogers Place, Downtown.
I say, why bother looking at them separately? The two are related in a way.
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Let me explain.
The province intends to take the $200-a-month federal benefit off the amount provincial AISH receipients receive. That “savings” will come to $184 million.
I could say that amounts to taking food out of the mouths of the disabled. I could claim it will make the lives of disabled Albertans (which are already hard enough) even harder. And on and on and on.
But I will let this one other figure do the talking for me. The amount the province is contributing to the new event park, to be operated by the Oilers Entertainment Group, is $183 million.
One-hundred and eight-four million taken from disabled adults, $183 million contributed to building a site for Oilers playoff parties, year-round concerts, community gatherings, sporting events beyond hockey and conventions.
It’s an almost dollar-for-dollar swap. Take $184 million from some of the most vulnerable Albertans and pump $183 million into creating a really nice, all-weather space for beer gardens, auto shows and comic cons. Essential stuff.
Of course, no one in the provincial government did that deliberately. They didn’t hold a committee meeting at which someone said, “Hey, if we just scoop up the new federal disability payment from severely handicapped people we’ll have just enough money to pay for that fan park thing in Edmonton.”
They’re not that callous.
It’s more clueless than callous. Nonetheless, it’s very bad optics.
Of course, the UCP is hoping their contribution to a flashy, Downtown attraction will win them some votes in the capital, where they have no seats. Similarly, they’re hoping their sacks of cash for the fan park will take the minds of Edmontonians off the $330 million they are giving to Calgary for its new $1.2-billion hockey rink. (Politicians do have meetings at which they discuss calculations like that.)
The city is also being clueless.
Edmonton city council was so proud they “only” had to cough up $69 million to get the fan park built. As a city announcement said, this smaller amount would “limit taxpayer exposure.”
God I’m tired of junior levels of government thinking that money received from more senior levels is “free.”
Yeah, city taxpayers might have limited exposure. But the same people are also provincial taxpayers, whose exposure clearly has not been limited.
Why can’t politicians understand that the tax money they spend comes from the same, one source — you and me?
But none of that takes away from the fact that the province’s claw-back decision demonstrates a level of meanness.
Disabled Albertans of my acquaintance were relieved when Ottawa announced the Canada Disability Benefit this past spring. The extra $200 a month would help them pay for groceries or rent or other essentials. They wouldn’t feel the strain of monthly finances, as much.
Now they feel the province is being miserly and has snatched away the little ray of light the Canada Disability Benefit had given them.
The amount the Alberta government gives AISH recipient each month — just over $1,900 — is among the most generous disability payments in Canada. In B.C., for instance, the comparable benefit is nearer $1,400.
Still, AISH hardly makes those on it financially comfortable, an extra $200 a month could make a marked difference.
lgunter@postmedia.com
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