Thread by @BarbLarochelle

I’ve been angry and anxious before & after provincial budgets lots of times. Klein slashing and burning everything. Disappointed in Redford. That kind of thing. Having made a career in public service, you kind of become inured to the idea that while politicians may ‘say’ 1/9

they value what you do, the electorate here wants all the service for none of the cost. That’s exactly what Prentice meant when he said ‘Look in the mirror’ back in 2015. It’s tiresome hearing how anyone in the public service is paid too much and all deficits should always 2/9

be made up by going after our paycheques, as if we’re nothing but a drain on the province. Never mind that our $$$ are in the economy, that we buy goods and services too, and we provide essential services. You get resigned, but used to it after decades of the same rhetoric. 3/9

This time, it feels different however. It feels malicious. It feels like UCP intends to do harm. It feels like they think the public sector deserves to be decimated. That we need to ‘pay’ to make others who have gone through hard times lately feel better if we suffer. 4/9

And if UCP’s supporters DO cheer for whatever UCP will inflict on the public sector in their budget, they need to ask themselves whether this will in any way help them or the economy or anything else? If we have wages cut, the private sector will also deal with hundreds of 5/9

thousands of people who have to cut back even more. Know where we cut back? We don’t eat out. We don’t buy stuff for our house. We don’t hire people to fix things at our house. We don’t travel or attend events. We put off buying a car for another year. 6/9

All those dollars UCP claims the public sector does not contribute to the economy will REALLY be missing from the economy. I have 2 spending priorities right now: groceries, and saving even more my kid will now need to go to university. 7/9

The other difference is that UCP is going to do all this when they have been so cavalier about the BILLIONS of our money they’ve wasted on pipelines to nowhere, futile lawsuits, accounting errors, poor investments, fake inquiries, corporate tax giveaways etc. for NOTHING. 8/9

It’s depraved. It’s so far beyond incompetent there isn’t even a word for it. Former UCP supporters, if you feel appalled, or feel even a fraction of this at tomorrow’s budget, please remember they are not going to change. It is not going to get better. This is who they are. 9/9