One more time, Ralph!

[cowman]

Well Ralph is speculating about giving the people of Alberta some of their money back, one more time before he leaves office! Which in my opinion is good? In fact the royalty money should all go back to the people in my opinion!
Now the "socially conscious elite" think this is horrible! Why just think how that money could be spent on really needful things...like bigger fancier offices for themselves in the Ivory tower or something?
Why give a young family $1600? They probably would just blow it on silly things like food for the kids or maybe fill up the family car a few times!
Do you want to know why Ralph Klein will go down as the greatest premier Alberta ever had? Because he helped out the little guy...the Marthas and Henrys of this world!
The PC party has done some dumb things. And Ralph has done some dumb things! But he connects with the common man and I think he understands that bringing home the bacon and getting the kids raised is the most important thing for your average Joe! Just my opinion.

[coppertop]

how many Martha's and Henry's have and are waiting for months to see specialists about heart conditions and other health issues thanks to Ralph and crew ?

How many young families are struggling to keep the bills paid thanks to deregulation of power, the added cost of having to pay for many of the school costs that were provided before Ralph ?

For years now, Ralph has been out of touch with the little guy, he has surrounded himself with buddies that have no concept of the struggles of the every day little guy.

His additional $400 is the dumbest thing he has dreamed up yet,the $10,000,000 in administration costs the last round of checks ate up would have gone a long way toward building some additional continuing care facilities or making a few additional MRI machines available.

[JD4ME]

Yes send out more 400 cheques, then we can turn the PC party into the personal computer party. Did anyone happen for the heck of it wander by their local municipal recycling depot a few weeks before and the a few weeks after the last cheques arrived.
You would have seen where lots of that "free" money went. Right into Sony and toshiba and samsung etc.
There were pallets and pallets of Computers and TV's in the weeks following.
I happened to be in a Costco the week the cheques were arriving the people were literally lined up to look at big plasma T.V's.
I'd be fine with a slight reduction in personal taxes way before we need to go the ralph bucks route again.
I notice he let the troops back down on healthcare reform, again.
Leave it to the next guy Ralph, he used to have backbone now he just wants to be loved. We need a leader thats willing to lead, don't try and buy our respect, I already have a puppy.

[wilagro]

coppertop: Excellent post...my feelings exactly.

[dfarms11]

You know all the Ralph bashers out there really annoy me! I know that our health care isn't perfect, yet why is it then that Alberta has one of the best health care systems in the country! Also where was this province before he came into power? Millions of dollars in debt! He came in with the mandate to get us out of debt and by golly he did it. I know we don't have the perfect province but I don't think for one minute that I would rather live anywhere else! Oh and one more thing, what happens when this oil boom busts. Does everyone want us to go back into debt because our govt starts banking on a budget of $70-80 per barrel of oil, and it drops back to $40? Think about those ramifications if you will!

[cowman]

Well I would have to ask where does the spending end? I believe the claim is Alberta already spends more on health care per capita than any other province?
My own personal opinion is the oil and gas belong to the people of Alberta...not the government? They should not be taking our assetts and spending them on government programs...that is what taxation is for?
How much has electricity gone up since deregulation? Has it doubled? I think that is about right in my own situation.
Lets see, so has gas, so has a pickup truck, so has just about everything else!
The concept that the government is going to baby you all your life, just doesn't work? Only one person really cares about you...YOU!
I asked this before: Do you think a $28 billion dollar budget is too much, too little, or just enough? How do you think about the $11 billion spent on health care...too much, too little or just enough?

[coppertop]

Health car costs have increased, and when you look at the technology available today there isn't much wonder, but the government is choosing to pour some monies into the health care system that are questionable. For example, a new hospital in Fort Saskatchwan and one in Sherwood Park. The premier admitted this was being done for purely political reasons, because if one community got a hospital and the other didn't they would FIGHT ! What a foolish way to throw money away, when there is supposedly a shortage of doctors, and we all know there is a shortage of nurses.

Ralph used to be for the average joe, and since the PC convention, it seems that the majority of his caucus have realized that they do need to listen to the public ( eg: Third Way).

At the time he was talking to the media last week about another possible round of resource rebates he had NOT discussed it with caucus. As far as I am aware, we elect our MLA's in a democratic process and I for one, want my MLA to have an opportunity for input into any major budget decision, not have the premier going out on his own and making decisions then telling caucus after the fact.

Cowman, if our taxes were going to pay for all the government services that the oil revenues have made possible in Alberta, how much tax do you suppose we would pay ???

[blackjack]

...a big friend of ralph was actually the federal libs ... when chretien and company were up to no good it made ralph look pretty much like a saint...is it not true that all the cuts of 93 have been basically replaced... the problem with bureaucrats is that when they see wages rise in the private sector they also have to give themselves a raise as well as do the politicians...them little buggers just seem to love to spend our tax dollars...