Speaking Notes

Cutting Government Waste

April 15, 2015
Check Against Delivery

Thank you for that tremendous welcome.

Thank you for your passion and your commitment.

Thank you for your support of our terrific candidates, Christine

Moore and Darcy Mykytyshyn.

Thank you to you and your teams for standing up and working
hard for this great province we are so privileged to call home.

My fellow Albertans: the election campaign is well underway.

Together, we are campaigning for the Alberta we love and the

future we want, for ourselves and for our children.

On May 5th, we are going to make an important choice.

A choice between leaders.

A choice between parties.

A choice between teams.

And a choice between plans.

I want to be very clear about what a vote for our team will mean.

We are for protecting and creating jobs.

We are for cutting costs, balancing the budget and living within
our means.

We are for doubling the Heritage Fund and saving for future
generations.

We have built a realistic and clear plan that will allow us to meet
immediate challenges and to change our course for the long-term.

It will also guide our efforts to plan for the longer-term for a full
decade ahead to ensure that we are never again affected by the
oil revenue roller coaster.

We all know that falling oil prices have hit us hard as a province
and as a people.

Men and women have lost their jobs.

Businesses have suffered.

Families have felt the strain and stress of reduced opportunities.

Alberta is resilient.

But we cant take our comeback for granted.

It wont happen on its own.

My team and I have put together a plan.

Its a realistic plan with practical solutions that will make a

difference right away.

Its a responsible plan that will get us back to a balanced budget,

even if oil prices dont come back.

This week weve talked a lot about our plan.

.Our plan to invest in the infrastructure that supports health

care, education and transportation new roads, new hospitals
and more than 200 new or modernized schools where theyre
needed most.

.Our plan to invest in quality health care by finding efficiencies

and concentrating resources on the front lines.

Today, I am pleased to be able to talk about our plan to make

government more efficient overall.

We have an excellent public service but we can always be more

efficient.

We must always concentrate the money we spend on the front

lines.

We can be more much diligent about waste and efficiency.

I know that perhaps here more so than on any other matters,

Albertans have been disappointed.

So was I.

So were Christine and Darcy and all of the men and women who
have stepped forward to run in this election.

Because we want to bring forward change.

The moment I became Premier last fall, we started making

changes.

Reducing the size of cabinet.

Selling the government planes.

Cutting MLA salaries and government waste.

Bringing forward new accountability rules that ended overly

generous severances for political staff.

We are getting back on track.

We are making government smaller, more responsive and more

efficient.

We are returning to the core principles that defined our party

during its greatest and proudest moments.

But there is more to be done.

Lets start with the budget we presented last month.

We made it clear to the people of Alberta: we will reduce

government expenditures by $8.6 billion over the coming three
years.

Thats a substantial amount. And its an essential part of putting

the budget back in balance.

To get there, we must eliminate waste and duplication.

First, we will cut back on our expenses.

Within the public service, there will be a three-year freeze on

management salaries.

The 2.5% increases that will be applicable to union wages this

year will not, as usual, be applied to management or out of scope
employees.

Well also put in place a three-year hiring restraint our first

choice must always be to concentrate duties with existing staff,
rather than fill a position.

Well stand firm and insist on wage freezes in any contract

negotiation until the budget is balanced.

Well tighten the rules that govern the payment of severance.

And well emphasize our commitment to transparency by

expanding our Sunshine List to the management levels of AHS,
school boards, post-secondary institutions and the Provinces
ABCs our agencies, boards and commissions.

But its not just about salaries.

Second, our team will focus on eliminating waste and cutting red
tape within all areas of government.

Well establish efficiency teams in every department and task

them with finding cost savings and trimming government
regulation.

These are initiatives that will be led by front-line employees for the
simple reason that no one has a better sense of how we can
improve than those on the front lines.

We will recruit from consumer and industry organizations to help

bring outside perspectives to this work.

The recommendations of these efficiency teams will come straight

to us in Cabinet they wont be filtered through management.

And they will be guided by some core principles:

..like a one for one rule that aims to eliminate one

unnecessary regulation for every new one adopted.

and we will incentivize the search for cost savings by

establishing a 50/50 split for each dollar saved

.. where 50% of savings will be directed towards other internal

priorities

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.and the other 50% will be applied against our savings

restraint goals.

Third, we will improve efficiency and achieve cost savings by

expanding our review of our more than 320 Agencies, Boards and
Commissions, now underway.

What is clear from our initial review is that there is significant

duplication in our system.

Our goal will be to achieve a 25 per cent reduction in our ABCs by

the end of this fiscal year.

Every dollar helps. Every dollar gets us closer to our goal.

Every dollar misspent reinforces in our minds that we have work

to do

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to be better

to ensure past mistakes arent repeated.

to meet the expectations of our citizens have about our

respect for their money.

We are motivated to balance the budget but we are also

determined to restore the publics faith in the efficiency and
integrity of government.

Our team will respect the hard work of Albertans by treating the
public treasury with common sense.

In these tough times, Alberta needs a team with a realistic plan

a plan to transform the culture of government, confront the
challenges to our economy and move this province forward.

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With our candidates here today and all across Alberta, we are
building a new and energetic team.

A team that will be practical.

A team dedicated to serving the needs of the people we

represent.

A team focused on breaking the boom and bust cycle and

setting Alberta on a course toward greater stability and prosperity!

As we move toward May 5th as we move toward the important

choice that will shape our shared future it is important that
Albertans know whats at stake, and where we stand.

This is a new way forward and we need a mandate from

Albertans to proceed.

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We have a clear and realistic plan. It's on our website. Its in

mailboxes across the province.

Were proud of that plan. We want people to read it. We want

them to compare it against what the other parties propose.

I am proud to be leader of the Progressive Conservative Party

that will bring these changes.

Alberta is at a decision point.

In this election campaign, we seek a mandate to confront our

challenges head-on and to help fulfill the promise of Alberta.

Thank you.

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