Politicians can often be a mushy lot. They can make vague, ill-defined promises to make everyone happy without taking a firm stand on anything. You know the type: promises “hope,” “change,” and “transformation,” but avoids putting much meat on the bones to flesh out what exactly that means.

During the 2012 provincial election, then-premier Alison Redford promised that she would balance the budget within two years.

Two years later, Alberta is running its seventh consecutive deficit, has spent most of the $15 billion Sustainability Fund and is $10 billion in debt. That debt-load will grow to $21 billion by 2016. That year, Alberta taxpayers will pay $1.4 billion in interest payments, crowding out other spending priorities from schools to hospitals, to expansions in light rail in Calgary and Edmonton. 

In short, the Alberta government did not keep its word. That’s going to cost us. That is why the Canadian Taxpayers Federation has asked MLAs in all parties to sign our Balanced Budget and Debt-Free Alberta Pledge. The pledge commits MLAs to do three things:

1. Return Alberta to straightforward and honest, consolidated budget reporting that represents the balance of total expenditures and total revenues;
2. Stop the Debt Clock and the practice of debt financing outside of emergencies; and
3. Once the budget is balanced, legislate a debt-retirement schedule, or direct a dedicated portion of annual surpluses towards eliminating the debt to zero.

To raise awareness about Alberta’s return to debt and to put the heat on MLAs to sign the pledge, we took our 12-foot long, trailer-mounted Debt Clock on the road to 24 communities across Alberta, covering 2,700 kilometers.

On the ten-year anniversary of Ralph Klein holding his famous “Paid in Full” sign over his head at the McDougall Centre in Calgary, we invited MLAs from all parties to stand at that same place and sign the pledge. Wildrose Finance Critic Rob Anderson and Liberal Finance Critic Kent Hehr both signed for their parties. Those two parties have radically different views about how the budget should be balanced, but both agree that it needs to be done. They should be commended for being willing to ink their names to a concrete pledge to do something about the debt, rather than offer up vague promises about possible future action.

As we took the Debt Clock on its road trip around Alberta, we obtained the signatures of 14 Wildrose MLAs (82 per cent of caucus) on the pledge, including Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith and three Liberal MLAs (60 per cent of caucus), including Liberal Leader Raj Sherman. Former PC (now independent) MLA Len Webber exercised his independence and also signed. We were disappointed that we could not find a single current Progressive Conservative MLA – the party of debt slayer Ralph Klein – willing to sign it. We will keep trying. 

Hundreds of regular Albertans also signed petitions to balance budget and stop the Debt Clock. It didn’t take much convincing given that standing in front of the huge clock allowed one to watch it tick upwards at $541,324 per hour, which translates into almost $13 million per day and $4.7 billion per year.

Some Albertans even made unsolicited donations to our campaign as we came through their towns (we don’t accept money from governments or political parties). The most common thing that people told us when they made a contribution was that “this is for our grandchildren.” Meeting regular Albertans who want their government to act responsibly so that tomorrow’s taxpayers aren’t saddled with today’s spending was heart-warming.

The CTF also reached out to all three PC leadership candidates to sign the pledge. One will end up as our new premier in September. So it is critical that they are firmly committed to returning to transparent and honest budget reporting, balancing the budget, and paying down our debt.

Unfortunately, none of Ralph Klein’s latter-day successors would sign. Ric McIver deserves some credit for at least considering it, though in the end, he declined. Both Jim Prentice and Thomas Lukaszuk rejected the idea. 

We’re still hopeful all 87 MLAs will be willing to commit to sign on to the pledge. After the last premier made a vague promise to balance the budget, you can forgive us for wanting a commitment in writing this time.