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Alberta NDP leader seeks public input on budget

Last Updated: Sunday, February 8, 2009 | 5:01 PM ET

CBC News

Provincial NDP leader Brian Mason met with Albertans in Edmonton on Saturday to gather their input on the upcoming provincial budget.

Dozens of community leaders and other Albertans attended the party's Round Table on the Budget at MacKay Avenue School hoping to have their views heard.

Mason, also the MLA for Edmonton Highlands-Norwood, said it is going to be a unique budget for the province.

"We need to really focus on keeping people employed, protecting our healthcare, our education and responding to major challenges," Mason said.

It will be an important budget because of the current economic picture, he said, and it's an opportunity for Premier Ed Stelmach's Conservatives to make some real changes.

He said it's time for the province to move its focus away from the oilsands and concentrate on becoming the green capital of Canada.

"What we would like to see is a transition away from a focus on the tarsands, and on renewable energy as the future engine of Alberta's growth," Mason said.

Mason said the NDP will be taking all of the input gathered from the meeting and using it to help form its position for the budget.

The provincial budget is expected to be handed down in early April. The NDP holds two of the Alberta legislature's 83 seats.

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Alberta could face deficit in 2009: finance minister
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