Wednesday, August 24, 2005

And Ralph dances in a pile of money

Thanks to rising oil prices and continually rising oil prices, Alberta is about to report a $7 billion surplus and the government has no idea what to do with it. Currently, Ralph Klein is sitting in a big pile of money in Edmonton saying 'weee.' Next week, he plans on coming to Queen's Park and saying 'na na na boo boo.' After that his government has to figure out what to do.
The Klein government could definitely still put some money back in the areas that he cut so drastically in the 90s, health care and education. The health care situation has been slowly improving it still needs an injection of money. I suggest Klein start by putting up the money to build a second hospital in Fort McMurray, mind you it would have to be a levitating hospital because there isn't anywhere to put a new one on the ground.
Education is a big one, the schools need money. Maybe Klein forgot this because he hasn't been to school since he was in the 8th grade. Schools in Alberta are by no means in the same state as inner city schools in the States or Toronto, but I don't think there is such a thing as spending too much money on education.
I think that one of the most practical solutions would be to write a big fat cheque to the city of Fort McMurray. The current issue of Saturday Night magazine is all about Alberta and contains a great article about my once home of Fort McMurray, which is unfortunately not online), and how cash strapped it is. The city has been exploding for years and has literally started to run out of space. The schools are overflowing, the hospital is jammed, there is serious traffic congestion -- my fond memories of McMurray's rush minute traffic are apparently now memories to everyone-- and basically nothing in the city has enough money except the people. Everything is expensive in the city in the middle of nowhere (really look on a map), but the city itself seems to be short on cash, if help doesn't arrive soon the city will probably implode due to lack of infastructure.
That's my suggestion for King Ralph. Send some money to Fort McMurray, that's where all your money is coming from in the first place.

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