Get ready for another hit to the wallet come the New Year as the Province jacks up the carbon tax on January 1.

Livingston-Macleod MLA Pat Stier says it's an issue he's hearing a lot of from constituents.

"We intend to raise the issue for the next part of December and see if we can't get some sort of adjustment to it. But yes, I guess everybody's going to have to grit their teeth and get used to it as soon as January rolls around."

In all the tax is going up 50 per cent, which translates into an extra 2 cents at the pump and another 50 cents per gigijoule on your gas bill.

In the meantime, the ability for the Province to continue to borrow money has been taking hit after hit over the last few years.

What was once a AAA rating, has now been downgraded to a AA, with a negative outlook.

Stier says he and the rest of the UCP caucus will keep Finance Minister Joe Ceci's feet to the fire on the Province's rising debt.

"The debt is running up. They (NDP) can't seem to run any kind of good balanced budget at any time. They don't even have those thoughts."

Despite Ceci saying revenues will be up slightly and the deficit reduced a bit, Stier says the ever climbing debt will saddle taxpayers for years
to come.

 

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