Notley addresses Albertans through televised talk

Premier Rachel Notley has reached out to Albertans in a 15-minute pre-taped address.

It aired Thursday, April 7th at 6:45pm on CTV and Global, wherein she discussed the upcoming provincial budget. Notley promised increased help for families and laid-off workers, investment for private sector job-creators, and stressed the importance of creating a pipeline to the coast. Most notably, the Premier called out Ottawa for the lack of help provided to Albertans during a time of need.

“And to our partners in the federal government in Ottawa, I say this: we called on you to improve employment insurance and you made progress, but you also have to do better. The decision to exclude Edmonton and surrounding communities from EI improvement needs to be fixed. And, you need to give us the tools necessary to get through this tough economy ourselves. That means getting Canadian energy to new markets,” said Notley.

In the 15-minute talk, pre-taped in the kitchen of her Edmonton home, Notley said the impending budget will focus on controlling costs and creating jobs, the latter of which to be done in part through infrastructure investment: $34 billion dollar’s worth over the next 5 years.

The Premier also touched on the importance of creating a pipeline like the proposed Energy East Pipeline.

Notley also stressed that now is not the time to loosen the purse strings significantly, citing wage freezes for a number of government officials/political staff as well as public sector workers, and saying that “Albertans want us to live within our means. Albertans aren’t looking for any significant increases in public spending in times like these.”

The estimated cost to produce and air the address is $85,000, while the CBC is airing it at no cost to the government.

The provincial budget will be released next week.

To view the full video, click the following link:  http://www.alberta.ca/premier.cfm