"No honest conversation with Albertans on Revenues in Budget 2012" – McGowan

Edmonton – Alberta cannot hope to have great health and education services and fewer deficits without ending corporate tax and royalty giveaways, says Gil McGowan.

McGowan, President of the Alberta Federation of Labour, says today's budget tells the story of billions in giveaways.

Final numbers for the Conservatives' "drilling stimulus initiative" were provided and showed the government gave oil and gas companies $1.77 billion last year, for a total of nearly $3 billion. About $1 billion of drilling stimulus initiatives have been made a permanent feature of the royalty regime.

"The Conservatives have, once again, overlooked the real problem: they've simply given away too much in taxes and royalties. And that's creating unnecessary deficits and unwarranted pressure on services that matter to Albertans."

"No Alberta budget will ever be a good budget until we fix our broken system for generating revenue," concludes McGowan.

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For more information call:

Gil McGowan, President, Alberta Federation of Labour @ 780-218-9888 (cell)