BIOGRAPHY
Born: Saltcoats, Saskatchewan
Highest level of education attained: Graduated from the Columbia School of Broadcasting (Virginia, USA)
Work prior to politics: PR company owner; operator of a childcare centre in Calgary; press secretary to premier Peter Lougheed; radio and TV broadcasting; farming
First elected: Nov 22, 2004 (serving his second term)
Constituency: Calgary-West
Previously: Minister of Education (Dec 2006–Mar 2008); Minister of Health and Wellness (Mar 2008–Jan 2010); Minister of Energy (Jan 2010–Oct 2011)
Sworn in as Minister of Finance: Oct 12, 2011

MINISTRY VISION AND MISSION
Vision: Financial and economic leadership that strengthens Alberta. Mission: Provide expert economic, financial and fiscal policy advice to government and effective tax and regulatory administration to enhance present and future prosperity.

CONTACT
323 Leg. Building, 10800 97 Ave Edmonton, AB, T5K 2B6
Phone: 780 427 8809 Fax: 780 427 5543
www.finance.alberta.ca Email: ronald.liepert@assembly.ab.ca

REPORT CARD
“Winning another heralded portfolio, for reasons beyond understanding, Liepert is now head of finance… Liepert spent about $3-billion in his years as education and health minister, with few positive results.” (Trevor Bacque, Rocky View Weekly, Oct 17, 2011)

“Liepert said the idea he is, in the words of Raj Sherman, a ‘one-man wrecking ball’ is misguided. ‘There wasn’t one thing we did in Health that wasn’t a caucus decision,’ he said… But Sherman, a former Tory MLA who served under Liepert, scoffed at the notion. ‘Ron came to caucus to tell them what they were going to do,’ he said.” (James Wood, Cgy Herald, Oct 18, 2011)

“Most around the oilpatch have described Liepert as a pit bull because he doesn’t give up. It’s not a bad quality for a finance minister, especially if there are tough choices to be made.” (Deborah Yedlin, Cgy Herald, Oct 13, 2011)

“Liepert was the guy who tried to re-reform Klein’s ‘Third Way’… He was the famously short-tempered fellow on whose watch Alberta tried its catastrophic experiment in healthcare centralization… He got so unpopular seniors booed him spontaneously… Liepert now has even more power and opportunity to wreak havoc on public services.” (David Climenhaga, Alberta Diary, Oct 13, 2011)

T8N St Albert

By Peter Worden

Year incorporated: 1891 (founded: 1861)
Population: (2010) 60,138
Ages: (% of total pop.) 0–19: 28%; 20–34: 17%; 35–64: 45%; 65+: 10%
Marital status: (ages 15+) Married: 59%; Separated/divorced: 9%; Widowed: 4%; Never married: 28%
Housing: Rent: 12%; Own: 88%
Geography: Sturgeon River valley
Main industry: Business services, retail trade, health and social services
Largest local employers: Public sector (hospital, City, school districts, AGLC)
Local legends: Roman Catholic missionary Albert Lacombe, OMI; Lois Hole, a.k.a. “Queen of Hugs” and the 15th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta; actor Jason Thompson; journalist David Climenhaga; NHL player Jarome Iginla and alumnus Mark Messier

Of life in T8N two things are certain: taxes, and that there’ll be much hullabaloo about ’em. St. Albertans, after all, pay hundreds of dollars more per year in property taxes on average than homeowners almost anywhere else in the province. One reason, simply put, is that St. Albert is pretty. Whereas most neighbouring communities offset their tax base with industry—Morinville, for example, with its malodorous dog-food plant, or any of the five nearby smokestack-skylined municipalities that comprise “Upgrader Alley”—T8N has no non-residential tax base to speak of. The city looks and smells nice, and therein lies the monothematic tax question: “To raise or not to raise?” What’s pretty to one taxpaying citizen is pretty pricey to another, and this dilemma has a way of dominating local political discourse.
Recently, when taxes were raised a modest 2.9 per cent, the St. Albert Gazette asked readers how they felt. Tellingly, half said it was “reasonable,” the other half, “outrageous.” With the spectre of ever-incrementing taxes as inevitable as death and—well, you know—the Gazette’s embittered 50 per cent won’t be easily mollified. Neither will be any of T8N’s special-interest groups, who must ultimately and patiently wait their turn. All told, after emergency and essential services, utilities, local transit and a commendable paving and snow removal system, there isn’t a whole lot of money left in the budget for fun stuff—that is, without raising taxes. To use St. Albert’s library as an analogy, in lieu of a much-needed expansion, it must remove a book from its shelves for every one it adds. Similarly, for every public project the City funds, one has to go.