EDMONTON—The UCP’s decision to close the Alberta Government Library is short-sighted and will cost Albertans in the long run, according to the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees.
The library closure, which the UCP claims will save a paltry $1.2 million per year, will abolish five AUPE jobs, continuing the UCP’s trend of killing jobs during a serious economic crisis.
“What’s $1.2 million when this government gambled away $1.5 billion on Keystone XL?” asks Susan Slade, vice president of AUPE. “Jason Kenney could run a thousand Alberta Government Libraries with just that one budget line.”
“This is how it always is with the UCP,” Slade says. “It’s cuts for services that regular Albertans use, and lavish spending on major corporations.”
The Alberta Government Library is a hub of important research that is available to government workers, and helps those workers create cutting edge, data-driven policies. Closing the library means that research will no longer be in a single location and more difficult to access.
“Without access to the most up-to-date information from other jurisdictions in Canada and beyond, public sector workers are less able to help form good policy,” Slade says. “Without the right tools, everyone is more likely to make mistakes. That principal applies just as much to policymakers as it does to carpenters. So our message to the Premier is that he needs to stop trashing Alberta’s toolbox, and let us do our jobs.”
Slade says that he UCP can’t even realistically promise that this will save money. “Public sector workers will still need to access this material, but now they may need to start paying for subscriptions to it, and those costs will add up quickly.”
For Slade, the decision to close the Alberta Government Library is just another example of the UCP’s crusade against public services of all kinds. “Whether it’s healthcare, education, or the social safety net, this government is taking the ax to the services that every Albertan needs,” she says.
“Jason Kenney is bent on making Alberta’s public services dysfunctional, so that he has a future justification for privatizing them. But we deserve better. We can fight for the things we all need and deserve. If we join together, we can make Alberta work for all of us.”
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Susan Slade is available for comment. Contact Jon Milton, Communications Officer, at j.milton@aupe.org