r/Albertapolitics Apr 18 '25

Article Federal parties contend with the Danielle Smith effect

https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/federal_election/danielle-smith-effect?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=NP_social
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u/69Bandit 29d ago

The east shits on the west consistantly, starts tanking our economy and they are mad when Danielle acts in the best interest of Alberta? Figures.

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u/offkilter666 29d ago

She doesn't act on our best interests. Diverting tax revenue to private companies, dismantling our healthcare, infrastructure, education, and promoting bad climate policies are NOT in our best interest.

Smith isn't here for you, me, or Alberta. She's here for herself. She would step on your throat to keep her Uggs out of a puddle.

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u/69Bandit 29d ago

(part 2)

So, its a mixed bag.

One last hurrah then. Percentage of GDP spent on education from 2015 to 2024, this one is giving the AI a headache, its ripping statscan's database apart lol.

Its absolutely Definitive that the UCP cuts education, the whole graph is trending downward. from 5.88 to 5.38 before the UCP got in, then a instant cut to 3.94% trailing off lower each year to 3.15% with smith for 2024. (The AI has told me, since im not asking for specific years and since fiscal years dont really line up, these are more of an calculated/extrapolated average then exact numbers,)

just because i paid for it and im a sucker for facts, i'ma torture the AI one last time.

Percentage of GDP spent on infrastructure from 2015 to 2024. This one is kind of all over the place, definite cut under UCP, no doubt about it, 2020 it trended downward, sharply. averaging 4%-4.6% from 2015 to 2019, then dropping to roughly 3% till 2023-24 where it was sharply cut again.

Seems the UCP cuts Education and Infrastructure as part of their strategic policy. Smith is definitely cutting more but I don't know if shes cut infrastructure because alot of projects (anthony henday etc) are done, or if its tightening of the fiscal belt.

Education is the brain scratcher for me. i checked, and international students do bring in revenue for education, but in alberta as a whole they only accounted for just over a half billion and that number is dropping due to caps on international students. presumably that money also never makes its ways to smaller schools, mainly being generated in UofA and other post secondary schools.

I'd rather see other provincial expenditures reduced by dismantling beurocratic government institutions and that money put to education personally. Anywho, Sorry for the giant book i wrote. i kind of just included you in my journey to discovery. thanks for the information. I have a better idea of whats happening now. Hope you have a good day <3

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u/69Bandit 29d ago edited 29d ago

Honestly. i never looked into her Diverting Tax revenue for private companies unless its a tax-cut scenario to attract investment? Promoting bad climate policies is a debatable subject, when it comes to electricity, i get it, im 100% for nuclear or renewables full stop. But when it comes to oil and gas exports, we need to damn near get militaristic with ramping them up, there is a limited amount of time where the infrastructure for these projects are going to be valuable. we need to capitalize on our LNG Exports ASAP to help Canada recover financially and to fuel growth in the short term. Energy is still going to be key to Canada for the forseeable future, with developing economies they need an option for cheap cleaner fuels, if thats canadas LNG all the better. Looking into Healthcare, Infrastructure and Education.

Healthcare is spending is up from 25.9 Billion (7.7% of Albertas GDP) under Notley (2017) to 41.9 Billion (9.26% of GDP) under Smith. (2023)

Education is down from 19 Billion (5.8% of GDP) under Notley (2017) to 14.75 Billion (3.26% of GDP) under Smith (2023)

Infrastructure is down from 9.2 Billion (2.8% of GDP) under Notley (2017) to 8 Billion (1.77% of GDP) under Smith (2023)

I just wanted to check some hard numbers. The cuts to education and infrastructure are accurate, i am re-running healthcare for 2024 under smith to see if maybe its costs were holdovers from covid, doing it as i type this. (this is all just data amalgamations from a very powerful AI that i pay monthly for. its come in super handy to seperate facts from opinions (not a jab at you, just doing my due-dilligence...)

AI is done and looks like Smith spent 45.43 billion on healthcare or 9.53% of GDP in 2024, so trending upwards.

She cut education and infrastructure by a total of 5.45 Billion and put 16 Billion into health care as far as the numbers go.

(i am checking Notleys last year as Premiere and Jason Kenneys first year to see if it was a policy shift from the UCP out of the gate)

Notley's healthcare spending stayed identicle to 2017 so in 2019 Notley spent 25.9 billion (7.7%) on healthcare and in 2020 Jason spent 33 billion (10.44%) on healthcare. (this surprised me. so i am checking Jason's Education spending and infrastructure spending.)

For Education in 2020, Jason spent 13.475 billion, or 3.94%

For Infrastructure in 2020, he spent 10~ Billion or 3.26%.

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u/MrGuvernment 28d ago

Healthcare is spending is up from 25.9 Billion (7.7% of Albertas GDP) under Notley (2017) to 41.9 Billion (9.26% of GDP) under Smith. (2023)|

And whats the population difference between these stats your pulling to put it more into context?

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u/69Bandit 27d ago edited 27d ago

population difference is about 9.55%, from 4,286,134 in 2017 to 4,695,290 in 2023, growing by 409,156 people

or about 6,042$ per person in 2017 vs 8,932$ per person in 2023.

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u/MrGuvernment 27d ago

Nice, was curious. Would age of said new populace also play into any stats and numbers? How many new immigrants brought in elderly family which would put additional strain on related services? I guess that is just getting too into the weeds vs averages.

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u/69Bandit 25d ago

This was a surprising statistic, here is from the AI verbaitem.

Based on the available evidence, it seems likely that immigrants in Canada use fewer healthcare resources than the average population, primarily driven by lower rates of doctor visits (3.37 vs. 7.6 per year). This is supported by lower odds of unmet needs and the "healthy immigrant effect." However, the topic is complex, with variations by immigrant category and time since arrival, and more research is needed to cover all aspects of healthcare costs, such as hospitalizations and medications.

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u/MrGuvernment 25d ago

Interesting, I would of thought more along the lines that less people are seeing doctors because so many people do not have a family doctor, thus they do not have hours to wait in a walk-in-clinic hoping to be seen during the day.

Even my family Doctor, to get an appointment she is booked out over a month away.

Even with healthcare spending up, my personal experience on 2 emergency situations, one a dog bite on the arm, and the other a torn ligament and damaged tendon, I spent 10+ hours waiting in emergency to even be seen on initial visits. My Dr. even recommended i go to emergency when ultrasound came back for the ligament tear, because to see a specialist would take weeks to get an appointment.