[1711 Alberta Hansard May 13, 1999] Legislative Assembly of Alberta

Pine Shake Roofing

MR. MacDONALD: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Very soon a group representing over 30,000 Albertans will begin court action against their government for the part they played in the approval of untreated pine shakes, a blunder that has cost each homeowner thousands and thousands of dollars. The time has come for the government to come clean over the pine shake fiasco or Alberta taxpayers will be on the hook for millions of dollars in court costs in court-ordered settlements. My first question is to the Minister of Labour. Is the minister aware that residents in British Columbia are also actively pursuing a million-dollar class action suit against the Alberta government over your pine shake blunder?

MR. SMITH: No, Mr. Speaker, I am not.

MR. MacDONALD: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My next question is to the Minister of Justice. Has the minister done any work to determine how much his government's pine shake fiasco will cost Alberta taxpayers if these lawsuits are successful?

MR. HAVELOCK: Well, that's purely a hypothetical question, Mr. Speaker. I couldn't answer that.

MR. MacDONALD: Mr. Speaker, my last question is to the Provincial Treasurer. Has the Treasurer made arrangements in the budget for a contingent liability to deal with pending legal action in Alberta and British Columbia over pine shakes, and if so, how much?

MR. DAY: Mr. Speaker, our budget, which is being looked at right across the country, has an exciting portion to it. When we start the budget process, we estimate how many dollars will come in in revenues, and this year it's projected to be $16.8 billion. Then we take a prudent approach. We say, "What if we run into a situation where commodity prices drop, for instance, and other things impact us that we weren't anticipating?" To protect from that, 3 and a half percent of what we think will come in overall will be set aside at the start of the budget year, which we have done this year. I think it's $617 million.

To protect that from being spent indiscriminately, because pressure is always on us to spend in a variety of areas, we have the Fiscal Responsibility Act. Now, that particular act, if there is any of that increase left or that cushion that is there, sets aside 75 percent strictly to debt, and that's why we will continue to maintain a very aggressive plan to pay down our debt. Of the remaining 25 percent there is $154 million which is a contingency, which, if it has to be, can be used for a variety of things.

Last year, as you know, Mr. Speaker, there were forest fires that went far beyond what anybody could have estimated. There were extra costs of about $198 million there. There were pressures on the health care system related to Y2K pressures, which required at one point $170 million to be set aside.

So is there a contingency fund set aside? Yes, there is. Will it be used to protect against unanticipated changes in commodity prices and other things that are difficult to see coming? Yes, that's very true, Mr. Speaker. I could talk more about this, but I can see that you're getting somewhat nervous there, so I'll sit down.