The leaders of Alberta’s opposing political parties want it, many Albertans want to hear it too, but it seems unlikely that Premier Jim Prentice will say sorry for comments he made this week, blaming Albertans for the current fiscal woes.
Earlier this week, Prentice participated in a call-in radio show and told one of the callers that all Albertans need to take responsibility for the province’s budget shortfall.
"In terms of who is responsible, we all need only look in the mirror," Prentice told the radio show. "All of us have had the best of everything and have not had to pay for what it costs.
"Collectively, we got into this as Albertans, and collectively we're going to get out of it, and everybody is going to have to shoulder some share of the responsibility."
Those comments send waves in all forms of media all over the province and it’s clear that the issue isn’t going away.
On Thursday, during the announcement of the budget date, Finance Minister defended Prentice’s comments, saying that he hadn’t heard of anyone being offended by what he said.
He added that the comments merely showed that Prentice was concerned for the future of Alberta. “I think that the Premier has a vision for the province and I think that he's very concerned for the future of the province. I think that it's important that all Albertans look at the budget - it's a budget that's going to affect all Albertans and we want to work with all Albertans moving forward to make sure this is a better province in the future than it is today.”
Campbell says that everyone will be expected to pitch in to help Alberta recover from the budget crisis. “We’ve been very clear that when we’re done with this budget the province will be in much better shape moving forward.”
Health Minister Stephen Mandel was also quick to defend Prentice's comments, saying they were about how all Albertans are in the situation together. "It's not about you versus us, it's about how we're going to solve this as a team as a province and I think that's what his goal is. For people to take it further than that is to take it beyond what he's done. I've never met a man who's as passionate about trying to correct some of the inequities in the system and building a better province."
Mandel says that while he didn't hear the interview, he believes that people are taking the comments out of context. "Knowing the Premier, I've never met a man who's worked harder, who cares more, and wants to change Albertan more than he has."
Both of the leaders of Alberta’s opposition were very vocal about what they wanted from Prentice on Thursday. Rachel Notley, of the Alberta NDP, and Heather Forsyth, of the Wildrose, want him to apologize.
Notley says the comments were ‘profoundly insulting’. She says that Albertans actually took Prentice’s advice; they would have a much different answer for him.
“If Albertans looked in the mirror, here is what they would see – they’d see people who are trying, desperately trying harder and harder every day to make ends meet.”
Forsyth says she’s been hearing a lot from Albertans since the comments were made on Tuesday. “The Albertans I’m hearing from don’t believe it’s their fault. They don’t control the budget, Mr. Prentice and his government colleagues do and he needs to tell them he’s sorry.”
The provincial budget, which Prentice has said will be ‘most significant budget in modern times’ in Alberta, will be released on March 26.
