Alberta budget 2016: what do people think?

As soon as Finance Joe Ceci started his budget speech Thursday afternoon, the embargo was lifted on the 2016 Alberta budget.

• Alberta budget goes heavily into the red to fight economic downturn

It was then thatpeople representing a wide spectrum of interest groups and organizations flooded into the legislature rotunda to tell roving reporters what they think about the government's spending plan.

Paige MacPherson, Alberta director of the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation

"You're further compromising our credit rating, which could make the cost of borrowing more expensive, the cost of delivering important programs more expensive. This is just not setting out a fiscally responsible course for the province. No idea when we're going to get out of this hole."

Joel French, executive director Public Interest Alberta

"Alberta's finances are a sick patient and we're treating the symptoms right now with this budget, which is great, but we're not addressing the root causes, which is the chronic revenue shortage that we see in this province. So we need to have a broad conversation in the province about the way that we raise tax dollars. It needs to be fair and equitable, but we more need more tax revenue."

Janet Riopel, president and CEO of Edmonton Chamber of Commerce

"When you get to the tax credits, I think that the intent there expressed is a very, very good, very positive signal to us. I think that what we need to understand, though, are the details and we don't have those details yet. So we'll need to analyze the details."

Brian Jean, leader of the official OppositionWildroseParty

"The NDP are set to break their own law on borrowing by ploughing through a legislative cap that they just passed five months ago. The NDP have put us on a path ofunlimitedborrowing and zero timelines for getting our province back to balance."

Simon Dyer, regional director for Alberta, Pembina Institute

"It's positive to see the climate leadership plan being implemented. It's smart policy to take some of that carbon levy and invest it in things like energy efficiency and renewable energy and transit and transition to a green economy. It's also, I think, quite smart how they're implementing the consumer levy by making sure that 60 per cent of families are going to get all their money back.

"There's an incentive now to change your lightbulbs, to use transit,to buy a more fuel-efficient vehicle. But at the same time, by giving an equal amount of money back, it's going to protect low and middle income families."

Amber Ruddy, Albertadirector of provincial affairs, Canadian Federation of Independent Business

"It's very refreshing to see the focus on small business. For a number of years, we have pushed very hard for a reduction in the small business tax rate. Our members tell us that they'duse the money to invest in their employees, they'd buy equipment, they'd down debt.That's going to have a big impact.

"The other side is the spending. We need to figure out how to control the spending. And have a credible plan to get back to balancebecause a small business is expected to balance their budget, so they expect government to do the same."

Sandra Azocar, executive director of Friends of Medicare

"Next year will be a bit of a concern if we can't meet the population and inflation growth, and that's certainly something that we will be watching. Right now we are very happy that this government decided to listen to Albertans and to actually hold the line on spending even though we had tons of calls across the board to cut. I think it shows a real commitment to maintaining a public service so essential to all Albertans."

Michael Janz, chairman of Edmonton Public Schools

"As an education advocate, I'm very pleased. I'm pleased to see that there will be money for new teachers, that there will be money for new schools, there will be no cutbacks to education. This is very good news for our families, for our students, and our communities, and I think it would be a very positive investment in education."

Don Iveson, mayor of Edmonton

"I'm disappointed to see that like everybody else, we're on the rollercoaster too when it comes to infrastructure funding. Seeing that MSI grants which popped up last year have popped back down this year. So I know many municipalities were counting on that money this year. It's not a huge amount of money, but it's the principle that from year to year, our funding is up in the air."

Lisa Holmes, mayor of Morinville andpresident of the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association

"When it comes to basic infrastructure...MSI is the grant. And the fact that it constantly is fluctuating up and down each year is not sustainable for municipalities. We only have two revenue sources: provincial grants and municipal taxes. And if one goes down,the other obviously will have to be looked at to go up."