Affordability front and centre in Alberta election as cost of living spikes
Three voters on their struggles with inflation, and how the next government could help
It costs more to live in Alberta now than it did during the last provincial election.
Inflation hit a nearly 40-year high last June and many living on fixed or lower incomes have been struggling. Inflation is now easing, but eight consecutive interest rate hikes from the Bank of Canada are making mortgages and other debt more expensive.
It's a perfect storm that's putting affordability front and centre in the Alberta election.
Parties are making promises around the cost of living, but there's only so much the provincial government can do to tackle interest rates or inflation.
CBC spoke with three voters to hear what affordability promises they'd like to see during this election.
Supporting a family of four
Meghan Smethurst, an Edmonton mom of four, didn't want to go back to work full time. With careful budgeting, her husband's income used to be enough to support the family.
By January 2021, the family needed more money.
"The cost of utilities was going up, groceries were costing more and more and I just couldn't stay home," Smethurst said.
Smethurst found childcare for her youngest son, now four years old, and started working as a preschool teacher.
Even with the second income, grocery shopping for the family means tough choices. Smethurst said she never buys brand-name products, and staples like milk, bread, pasta and canned goods all cost more.
"We eat a lot less protein," she said. "I cut it with rice or add a little extra water. The prices are up so high."
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Smethurst said her family qualified for payments the provincial government introduced in February. They offer $100 per child each month, for six months.
That helped, Smethurst said, but the biggest help has been the federal-provincial daycare deal. That reduced daycare fees for her four-year-old by $700 per month.
"I'm keeping an eye on how supportive (each) party is of that program," Smethurst said. "That's a huge decider of where our votes are going to go."
The UCP says it's committed to work with the federal government to meet the goal of $10-per-day daycare by 2026. The NDP also supports the $10 per-day child-care plan, and says it would go further, expanding it to out-of-school-care programs.
The NDP is making other affordability promises, too, pledging over the weekend to pay off money owed by Albertans who deferred utilities payments between January and March 2023.
Living on AISH
For people living on a fixed income, like Edmonton's Ian Young, the increased cost of living means cutting back wherever possible — no Netflix, no meals out, no new clothes. Even a bus ride can be too expensive.
"I have learned to live a very sheltered life," said Young, who had a series of strokes when he was 40 and now relies on Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH). "I live in a lot of isolation. I'm the one who can't go to concerts, I can't go to hockey games, I can't go to movies."
When it comes to AISH and inflation, there's been a lot of political back and forth. The former NDP government indexed AISH to inflation in 2019. The United Conservative government, under former premier Jason Kenney, halted that less than a year later. When Danielle Smith became premier, she pledged a six per cent increase to AISH this year, re-indexing it to inflation after that.
Currently, the NDP platform says it will increase AISH payments by $135 per month and index them to inflation after that.
Young talked about living on AISH at an NDP press conference last year, but says he will work with any party that's willing to listen.
"There's a saying: 'Nothing about us without us,'" said Young. "Please consult us. We'll tell you what it's like to live on AISH. Then you can make a decision."
Young gets $1,732 per month from AISH. He wants the government to increase payments to at least $2,000 per month. That was the amount of the federal Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) for people who lost their jobs during the pandemic.
"That still does not bring us to the poverty line, but it brings us closer to the starting point," Young said.
Affordability for students
Tuition is a top concern for University of Calgary student Nadia Seggewiss.
Seggewiss, a chemical engineering and business major, just completed her third year. She pays nearly $5,000 per semester for tuition.
For her first two years of school, Seggewiss lived with her parents in southwest Calgary. She spent as much as three hours per day commuting on public transit.
This past academic year, Seggewiss had a busier course load and extra-curricular actives to build her resumé, in order to apply for co-op job positions. She moved out of her parents' home and into a shared apartment on campus to cut her commuting time. That added $940 per month for rent, plus grocery costs.
"I didn't have time to have a part-time job outside of school and I was running on my own personal savings," Seggewiss. "Those were starting to dwindle. That was a stressor for me."
Seggewiss took out loans to cover her budget shortfall and moved back in with her parents after the semester ended.
Both the NDP and the UCP have promises for students. The NDP says it would freeze tuition at 2022-23 levels and then cap any future increases to inflation. The UCP promises a two per cent cap on tuition increases, starting in 2024-25.
"I like the idea of another tuition freeze for everybody," Seggewiss said. "I know a lot of students that are struggling. With the rising cost of tuition, especially for international students, I know that's a lot of stress on everyone."
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