Candidate Q&A: Brooks-Medicine Hat
By Medicine Hat News on May 27, 2023.
Gwendoline Dirk (NDP) 1. The Alberta’s Future Tax Credit is part of our plan to attract $20 billion in private sector investment and create 47,000 good jobs. The new tax credit will spur investment in cleantech, carbon materials, critical minerals processing, and advanced manufacturing. We will expand the Alberta Petrochemical Incentive Program to include eligible feedstocks and final products, and to bring partial upgrading back into the program after the UCP removed it. We will create a regulatory fast pass to get well-developed projects built sooner. We will invest $18 million into union-led training facilities, ensuring more workers have access to high-quality skills and safety training for industrial jobs. 2. We will work with business to establish a predictable, rational schedule for minimum wage, tying it to inflation which is what many in Alberta’s business community have advocated for. We will work with business leaders to ensure Alberta’s wages remain competitive during a time of labour shortage while providing stability and certainty for businesses. We will eliminate the discriminatory youth minimum wage, which has been administratively complex for businesses. Our approach, when combined with a zero per cent small business tax rate and a restoration of the STEP subsidy program, will be good for Alberta families, for businesses, and for Alberta’s economy. 3. The Alberta NDP will review the private health service contracts signed by the UCP government for community labs run by DynaLife. We will look at the parts of the contracts that have not been publicly released to see how DynaLife can be held accountable to their obligations. We will work tirelessly to restore health-care workers’ trust and provide robust support to retain them. We will support evening and weekend hours for Alberta’s family doctors and health professionals. We will also create 10,000 new health spaces in our post-secondary institutions and launch the largest health-care recruitment strategy this province has ever seen. 4. We are at a pivotal moment. Our economy is changing and we must be ready. Alberta is an energy leader, and we must also lead in our responsibility to make responsible choices for the climate. We believe Alberta will also be leaders in renewable energy. An Alberta NDP government will work with generators and stakeholders to identify further opportunities to make the necessary adjustments that meet our principles of reliability, affordability, emissions reductions, jobs and investment. We will protect taxpayers and rate-payers while reducing carbon emissions. The decisions we make today will have long-lasting implications for future generations. Barry Morishita (Alberta Party) 1.Progressively reducing the percentage of royalty revenues that are directed to general spending in the annual budget and instead directing those royalties to the Heritage Fund; Utilizing the interest earned from the Heritage Fund to finance capital projects across the province. The Alberta party would review the current taxation models to ensure long term sustainability of services, and will investigate the introduction of a combined Harmonized Sales Tax with the federal GST. Further, any introduction of a sales tax would not happen until the current financial crisis (regarding increased inflation and the effects on Albertans) has been rectified. 2. An Alberta Party government would conduct a thorough review of existing poverty reduction programs and produce a comprehensive plan to support Alberta’s working poor, and as part of this plan, introduce a wage top-up program that will provide the working poor with targeted benefits while maintaining the incentive to work. 3. Consult with front line and consider any and all solutions that reduce those times. It could include a combination of public and private services. The goal is to provide the best service at a sustainable cost. A transparent decision-making process along with the proper input from health professionals will yield the best result. 4. The Alberta Party is best suited to manage this because we are collaborative and transparent about making decisions. Communities, municipal leaders and industry will be called to work together to enable energy expansion. Affordability and community and environmental impacts must be at the forefront. Life cycle planning for any energy development is a pillar of our policy, regardless of it being renewable or non-renewable. Danielle Smith (UCP) 1. Our focus is to continue diversifying our economy so we can have industries like film and television, fintech, aviation, and others boosting our economy, alongside our vibrant oil and gas sector as we work to reduce emissions. Thanks to our UCP government, Albertans and Alberta businesses benefit from one of the lowest and most competitive business taxes in North America, experience ongoing reduction of bureaucratic and administrative red tape, and are home to one of the friendliest business environments our nation has ever seen. 2. Alberta’s economy has momentum, and more jobs are being created every month. Even as more Canadians choose to move to Alberta and make their home here, our unemployment rate is staying low. Right now, Alberta has a record number of people working and a record number of people working full-time. That means more individuals and families can count on regular paycheques. In addition, those paycheques are higher. Alberta has the highest average weekly wages in the country, at $1,274. A United Conservative government will continue working to build our economy and support the creation of more jobs 3. More work needs to be done. With support from Alberta Health Services, we are actively recruiting additional staff and bringing in staff from other areas of the province to help in communities of high demand. I’ve heard loud and clear from constituents that wait times at the lab are worrisome and I’m already taking action to ensure wait times drop in my next term. 4. Alberta has attracted billions in generation projects including well over $2 billion in renewable generation. I’ve heard from constituents that they are concerned about solar farms being placed on irrigable, good farm land and I take this feedback seriously. There needs to be a balance. 17-16
