FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 19, 2003Throne Speech ignores evidence that P-3s don’t work Tories also ignore Kyoto impact on workers and looming worker shortage EDMONTON – Based on yesterday’s Throne Speech, it seems clear that the Alberta government is once again shutting its eyes to the concerns of working people and to evidence that runs contrary to its conservative ideological preferences, says the president of Alberta’s largest labour organization. "Over the past few months, the Klein government has been presented with compelling and conclusive evidence showing that so-called public-private partnerships don’t work," says Les Steel, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour. "Yet, with this Throne Speech, they have committed themselves to pushing ahead with these schemes. The big question is: why are they ignoring the evidence? Why are they ignoring the danger signs?" Steel points out that over the past few years, several reports highly critical of the P3 approach have been released by academic researchers and provincial auditors. For example, the auditor general of New Brunswick recently reported that one P3 school cost $900,000 more than if it had been built and operated publicly. Similarly, researchers in Britain revealed that a P3 hospital there ended up costing $1.8 billion pounds more than if it had been developed within the public system. "We saw this same flawed approach to policy making with electrical deregulation," says Steel. "The government simply ignores evidence and experience that doesn’t jive with its narrow ideological agenda." Steel says the Throne Speech was also a disappointment because it was silent on two other issues of major concern to the labour movement: climate change and the looming shortage of skilled workers. On the subject of climate change, the Klein government promised to push forward with a "made-in-Alberta" strategy. But Steel says no efforts have been made to include workers in the process. "The federal government has given working people a seat at the table when it comes to planning Kyoto implementation," he says. "But at the provincial level, there has been no such commitment – and no plans to ease the transition for workers impacted by climate change policies." On the issue of jobs and the economy, Steel says there was a lot of talk in the Throne Speech about growth and diversification – but little mention of the skilled workers that will be needed to keep the Alberta economy strong. "As it stands right now, the average journeyman tradesperson in Alberta is about 50 years old – and we’re not attracting enough young people to replace them when they retire," says Steel. "Without more skilled workers – especially in the trades – we’re not going to be able to keep Alberta’s economic engine running. If this isn’t a priority for the government, I don’t know what should be. Yet there was no mention of changes to training and apprenticeships in the Throne Speech. It’s a major omission." -30- For more Information, contact: |