Kevin Taft visits Northern Alberta

Alberta Liberals will widen Highway 40, commit $81 million for new hospital in Grande Prairie

Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft is in Northern Alberta today, visiting the communities of Grande Cache, Grande Prairie, Wabasca-Desmaris and Fort McMurray.

“People here say that a pipeline goes out and a garden hose comes back. Industrial activity in this area generates massive wealth for the entire province, but Northern Albertans are left holding the bag as they deal with the strains of a booming economy,” Taft said.

“The Tories have done nothing to solve the affordable housing crisis, fix health care or protect the environment. With the same old government, Northern Albertans will keep suffering from the same old problems. It’s time for a change — we need a new government.”

In Grande Cache, Taft said, “You shouldn’t have to risk your life every time you use Highway 40. The Tories’ three-year capital plan does not include Highway 40 improvements. Yet Stelmach said during this campaign that it does — it sounds like typical Tory project management: promise repeatedly, never deliver. An Alberta Liberal government needs to look under the hood to find the government’s estimates, but we will improve and widen Highway 40.”

Taft recommitted today to an additional $81 million towards building a new hospital in Grande Prairie. This funding was included in the Alberta Liberal costing announcement of February 22.

“Accessibility woes have plagued the health care system in Grande Prairie for too long. A new hospital has been needed here for a long time, and we’ll provide the funding to get this vital project completed,” Taft said.

“Our platform has been getting solid reviews all over the province. The Alberta Medical Association gave our health care policies top marks out of all the other parties, and the Conservation Voters of Alberta said our environment platform is the strongest. Protect the environment and you protect the economy. And, we’re the only party to have released a platform on K-12 education,” Taft said.

The Alberta Liberals will improve the quality of life for Northern Albertans by also:

Increasing the number of affordable housing units and protect renters from exorbitant increases.
Creating a land-use strategy to balance industrial interests with those of communities and the environment.
Reinstating a government ministry devoted exclusively to Aboriginal Affairs and doubling provincial funding for Friendship Centres.
Ensuring adequate funding for rural health services to reflect the higher costs of delivering health care in rural areas.
Working closely with industry and forest-area communities to make sure forestry remains a vital, thriving part of Alberta.
Protecting Northern Alberta’s water by requiring watershed management planning and creating a provincial inventory of surface and ground water.
Super-charging Alberta’s post-secondary institutions, including Grande Prairie Regional College.

28 February 2008

Alberta Liberals commit to a moratorium on school closures

Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft committed today to placing a three-year moratorium on school closures to review the flawed school closure process.

“Too many schools are needlessly or prematurely closed, which has a huge impact on families, students and teachers,” said Taft. “The Alberta Liberals will ensure that we can develop an improved process that works for both parents and school board trustees.”

Speaking outside an Edmonton school, Taft said the Alberta Liberals will build on their reputation as “the education party” by addressing long-neglected needs in the education system and providing students with the tools they need for the best education possible.

“The Alberta Liberals have always supported the valuable role that schools play in their neighbourhoods,” said Taft. “One of the key initiatives in our platform is to enable a ‘community schools’ program. By allowing schools to be converted into centres offering health care, after-school care and social services, we will not only be supporting our students, teachers and parents, we will be supporting our communities.”

Taft said the Alberta Liberal Action Plan for Education will start by honouring the deal to fund the unfunded portion of the teacher’s pension fund.

The plan will also eliminate school fees for essential school supplies.

“Parents and students shouldn’t be forced to fundraise for basics like text books and paper,” said Taft. “The Alberta Liberals will ensure that our students have the resources they need for the best education possible, and that our teachers are supported in their incredibly valuable work.”

“Alberta spends more per capita than almost any other province, yet thousands of children are going to school hungry, our infrastructure is so deteriorated that school roofs are leaking or in danger of caving in, and the high school graduation rate is among the lowest in the country,” said Taft. “This is unacceptable. Our students will form the next Alberta, and if we don’t help them to get the best education possible, then we are squandering our future.”

All of the funding for education was included in the Alberta Liberal Party’s costing announcement last Friday. Through a Core Program Review and better use of the Sustainability Fund, the Alberta Liberals will reallocate $255 million in operating funding to support public education and over $500 million in capital dollars to get needed schools built in Calgary, Edmonton and other communities across the province.

The plan will also help to put at-risk children on a path to success, through initiatives such as:

Introducing a province-wide school nutrition program so that children at risk of hunger have a healthy meal each day.
Establishing a full-day kindergarten program and a junior kindergarten program, starting with at-risk children.
Reducing class sizes, working towards the Alberta Learning Commission’s target ratios for class sizes.

“The Alberta Liberals will make sure that every child has the tools they need to do their best in school, regardless of their economic background,” said Taft. “This plan will help to ensure our students are able to achieve the brightest future possible.”

28 February 2008

New Report from C.D. Howe Highlights Tories’ Free-Spending Ways

A report released yesterday by the CD Howe Institute provides further indications that the Tories are frittering away Alberta’s future, said Alberta Liberal Campaign Manager Kieran Leblanc in Edmonton earlier today.

According to the C.D. Howe Institute report, After the Oil Rush: A Blueprint for Alberta’s Long-term Happiness:

Of particular concern for Alberta is that high energy prices and rapidly flowing resource revenues mask the province’s underlying fiscal position, undercut attempts at spending restraint, and risk leaving the province unprepared, either for market downturns or for an inevitable, eventual slowing of resource production.

With regards to the Tories’ past spending patterns, the report goes on to highlight that:

In the last five years, total spending increased above planned spending growth by an average of 6.3 percent annually. Not surprisingly, overall spending in the last 10 years has nearly doubled.

Ed Stelmach’s only plan is a surplus plan, meaning that they wait until they have extra money before setting any of it aside for savings. Any personal financial advisor will tell you that this is the worst way to plan for the future.

And the financials on Stelmach’s election platform costing confirms the Tories have no plan. Despite making promises totaling over $7 billion, the Tories provide no indication of how they plan to pay for their promises. “Where’s the money coming from? It sounds like the Tories believe surpluses will last forever,” noted Leblanc.

Leblanc emphasized that the Alberta Liberals expect the Tories to continue their tradition of mismanagement and ad-hoc policy making when they announce further details of some new royalty scheme during the last days of the campaign.

“Hopefully, Stelmach will finally come clean with Albertans about the unintended consequences of his new royalty regime. That Stelmach is expected to come out with details in the campaign’s final days highlights the lack of any fiscal prudence, foresight, or management skill on the part of the Tories,” said Leblanc.

The Alberta Liberals have been clear on royalties. Albertans deserve their fair share. That is why royalties will increase by the 20% recommended by the Royalty Review Panel. Sectors of the oil and gas industry that can more easily afford increased royalties will pay more, while struggling sectors will get a break.

The Alberta Liberals are also the only party in this campaign with a comprehensive, sustainable and fiscally responsible savings plan. Under the Alberta Liberal’s Funding Alberta Future plan, an Alberta Liberal Government would immediately pay Albertans first by channeling 30% of resource revenue collected into four endowment funds.

If our plan was implemented when first introduced, fiscal stability could have been assured through a vibrant Heritage Fund worth well over $100 billion by 2020.

It’s time to get the job done right. It’s time for a change.

28 February 2008

Alberta Liberals to bring the Legislature to the people

Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft announced today that he will take the Legislature on the road for two weeks every year to give Albertans around the province a chance to see their government in action.

“The Legislative Assembly is the heart of our democratic process,” said Taft. “It is where our elected representatives are empowered to debate and make decisions of enormous importance affecting every aspect of life in Alberta.”

“We can’t move the actual Legislature building around the province, but we can move the Legislative Assembly. We’ll spend two weeks out of every year in a different community in the province, to reconnect Albertans to their democratically elected representatives,” Taft said.

Taft said an Alberta Liberal government will convene the first out-of-Legislature session in Lethbridge. It will also be convened in cities such as Medicine Hat, Red Deer, Calgary, Fort McMurray and Grande Prairie.

Taft believes this initiative will help restore real democracy in Alberta after 37 years of a Tory government that has become unaccountable and insulated from the public.

“For many, many years now this Tory government has worked to marginalize the Legislative Assembly. The Legislative Assembly, the exact place where voters should be most able to hold their representatives to account, has become a rubber stamp,” said Taft.

“Debates that should have occurred in the Assembly, in full public view, have been shifted to the backrooms. Decisions that should have been determined in the Assembly are now almost always made before the Assembly has a chance to even consider them.”

“The Legislative Assembly, the exact place where voters should be most able to hold their representatives to account, has become a rubber stamp.”

Taft said if the citizens of the province had a greater opportunity to see what happens inside the Legislature, they would demand better.

“I want the Legislative Assembly of Alberta to once again belong to the people who elect its members,” said Taft.

Backgrounder: Legislature on the Road

Speaking Notes: Moving the Legislature to Albertans

27 February 2008

Chief Electoral Officer must assert authority

Edmonton-Castle Downs’ Returning Officer scandal shows Elections Alberta must stand up for Albertans’ right to a fair election

The Alberta Liberal Party formally demanded today that Elections Alberta Chief Electoral Officer Lorne Gibson assert the authority given him by the Election Act and ensure impartiality in the conduct of Alberta’s election on March 3rd, 2008.

Section 4(1) (a) of the Election Act (2000) states the Chief Electoral Officer shall:

“enforce on the part of all election officers fairness and impartiality in the conduct of their duties and compliance with this Act…”

Sun Media reported today that Linda Brown, who was appointed by Order in Council as Returning Officer in Edmonton-Castle Downs, is the former executive assistant to PC MLA Thomas Lukaszuk.

In 2004, Lukazuk won the election over Alberta Liberal Chris Kibermanis by three votes on an appeal of a judicial recount after losing the unofficial count, the official count, and a judicial recount. The two candidates are again running against each other this election. If there is any constituency in which every vote does indeed count, this is it.

“The legislation is quite clear that the Chief Electoral Officer has the authority and responsibility to make sure elections, including this election, are free and fair and administered by impartial returning officers. The CEO has the duty and responsibility to ensure impartiality, without regard to any instruction from the government or fear of retaliation,” said Glenn Rollans, Co-Chair of the Alberta Liberal campaign.

The demand details supervisory measures required to restore Albertans’ confidence in an impartial election, and notes that these measures are enabled by the Act and within the responsibilities of the Chief Electoral Officer.

These measures include retaining impartial outside assistance, including assistance from other jurisdictions, if the staff of Elections Alberta is insufficient to the widespread need for supervision and enforcement of impartiality in this election. “This election was not a surprise. Elections Alberta could have gone on a recruiting drive last spring to bring in qualified, impartial returning officers,” Rollans said.

The demand specifies that the Chief Electoral Officer himself should personally be present during the official count in Edmonton-Castle Downs.

Click here to read a letter to Chief Electoral Officer Lorne Gibson from the Alberta Liberal Party’s campaign co-chairs.