Alberta Party launches it’s campaign platform from provincial capital
Posted Apr 8, 2015 4:45 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Alberta Party leader and Calgary Elbow candidate Greg Clark picked the provincial capital to launch his party’s platform Wednesday afternoon.
In it, he says the Progressive Conservatives have become too dependent on the price of oil and his party would provide a more balanced approach.
First and foremost, they’re calling for the protection of front-line services by reducing the province’s dependence on oil and gas royalties.
In the release, he says they’d balance the budget over six years, replace the proposed new income tax with a more progressive system that’s fair to Alberta families, increase revenues from corporate tax by increasing the tax rate by 1 per cent, empower front-line staff to find cost savings and reduce administration costs by $250 million, create a Legislature Budget Officer, mandate 50 per cent of resource revenues to the Heritage Savings and Trust Fund and mandate 100 per cent of surplus be used to pay down debt.
They’re also calling to implement a “smart” infrastructure investment plan to build the infrastructure needed.
According to their document, “they’d use Alberta’s credit rating to access low interest rates to borrow funds needed to build schools, health facilities and transit.”
They’d also require government to commit to a plan that pays down those loans.
Third aspect of their plan is to build schools, protect teachers and reduce class sizes.
They’re also looking to make strategic investments in health care, provide stable funding to post-secondary education and strengthen the energy industry through environmental leadership.
Greg Clark tells 660News this election is going to be about trust and the need to restore trust in our government by implementing the toughest ethics laws in Canada.
“I think we’ve seen time and again that we can’t trust the P.C.’s, we’ve seen them breaching their very own weak ethics laws on a regular basis,” he said.
Clark is calling for a prohibition on public spending announcements during an election, a ban on cabinet ministers using their office for political gain and Alberta’s campaign finance laws to be strengthened.
The party also wants to strengthen support for rural communities, to diversify the economy, protect Alberta’s communities and businesses by building flood mitigation, enter into a new partnership with municipalities and eliminate child poverty in the province.
They also want to enter into a new partnership with the Aboriginal community and improve Alberta’s quality of life through investments in culture.
The Alberta Party also wants to provide stable operating funding to arts and creative industries and develop a Provincial Arts strategy.
“I’ve grown up in Alberta, I’ve been through this 5 or 6 times myself and the P.C. party seems to be the only ones that haven’t learned their lesson (about getting too reliant on price on crude),” says Clark.
“You know, you can’t cut your way to prosperity,” he adds. “I just can’t see a way where the Wildrose plan puts teachers in classrooms and puts nurses on hospital wards. It just simply doesn’t add up.”
