We will:

• Eliminate health care premiums now.
• Re-regulate electricity to lower Albertans’ power bills.
• Invest 30% of all royalties starting now, before it’s too late.
• Cap greenhouse gases in five years, through an active partnership with the energy industry.
• Provide the hospitals and train the health care professionals Alberta needs, now.

Alberta enjoys unprecedented opportunities.  There’s global demand for our resources, and we’ve succeeded in diversifying into many high technology and research based industries. We are the only debt-free jurisdiction in North America, with no sales tax and low personal taxes. There’s no doubt our province is doing very well.

The prosperity and quality of life we enjoy today is thanks to the innovation, determination, and hard work of the people of this great province. These good things don’t happen by accident.

But with all the benefits from growth, Albertans also feel the impact.  A work-life balance is more difficult to achieve. We must make some changes.

 Our plan is simple:

• Building Our Quality of Life
• Creating and Protecting Our Opportunities
• Greening Our Growth

In my first year as Premier, we have initiated new policies to address many of Alberta’s pressing issues, but I know there is more to be done.

I believe the Progressive Conservative team of women and men will make the changes we need to ensure Alberta always remains the best place in the world to live, to work, and to raise a family. Please take a look at our plan. I hope we will be able to count on your support.

Brian Mason and Alberta’s NDP put the needs of regular Albertans first, with real solutions to make life more affordable for everyday people.

“It’s time Albertans saw the benefits of their resource wealth. Average families are being squeezed by high costs and declining public services. Alberta’s NDP is on their side.”
– Brian Mason.

Respecting First Nations

Aboriginal communities deserve to be treated with respect.

Alberta Liberal Plan for Aboriginal Affairs

• Reinstate a government ministry devoted strictly to Aboriginal affairs.
• Advocate for quick, fair, and effective resolution of land claims for Alberta’s First Nations.
• Double provincial funding for Friendship Centres.
• Take specific measures to improve Aboriginal health care and education, as outlined earlier in this document.
• Raise the profile of Aboriginal health by appointing a Director of Aboriginal Health within Health and Wellness.
• Heighten cultural awareness among health professionals, and encourage Aboriginal people to enter health professions.
• Establish urban-Aboriginal health centres.

First Nations

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will seek clear direction from the Supreme Court of Canada on constitutional questions about aboriginal self-government.

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will offer to negotiate a delegated municipal style of self-government with any First Nation that wants to move beyond the Indian Act.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will recognize the precedence of the authority of the Provincial Government over the authority of a municipal style government.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will create a permanent First Nations Forum to provide aboriginal citizens living on and off reserves direct communication with government about their priorities and ideas to materially improve their quality of life.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will devote special attention and resources to addressing the challenges and needs of aboriginal women and youth.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will devote special attention to help aboriginal families bridge the "digital divide".
  

Building the Creative Economy

A vibrant creative community is an essential part of a thriving, smart society. An Alberta Liberal government will spark a renaissance in arts and culture in Alberta.

Alberta Liberal Action Plan for Arts and Culture

• Double Alberta Foundation for the Arts funding immediately and triple it within three years.
• Pursue Status of the Artist legislation.
• Launch an Alberta Arts Festival, equivalent to the Alberta Games.
• Create an Alberta Film and Television Tax Credit.
• Pilot an Alberta Publishers Fund.
• Develop a capital investment strategy for heritage and cultural facilities.
• Eliminate entrance fees for youth to cultural facilities.

Arts and Culture

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will encourage and support through funding for community projects and school programs such as music, art, theatre, dance, sculpture, reading-writing and other arts and cultural activities as an essential enrichment of life and integral part of Alberta'­s communities and cultural diversity.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support the right of each individual to pursue their goals and objectives in a free society secure in the knowledge of their equality under the law.
  

Child Care That Works for Alberta Families

Alberta invests less per child care space than any other province in Canada. How is that possible?  The Alberta Liberals see child care funding not as an expense, but as an investment, and one that will pay long-term dividends.

Choosing between employment and adequate child care is not something Alberta parents should have to do.

Alberta Liberal Action Plan for Child Care

• Trigger the creation of new child care centres and help existing centres to flourish through increased start-up funding, and operational funding for accredited centres, pre-school, out-of-school care, and day homes.
• Work with employers and industry to develop a set of best practices to improve conditions for employees with children, and to increase understanding between employers and parents who work with them. Employers will also be eligible for start-up funding and operating funding once accredited.
• Boost wage enhancements at every level to help child care centres recruit and retain staff.
• Provide financial support for students in early childhood education.
• Forgive student loans for those who remain in Alberta as child care workers for three years after graduating.
• Make spaces for children aged 6 to 12 eligible for subsidies, just as they are in every other Canadian province.
• Reduce the minimum number of hours required for subsidy eligibility.
• Provide specialized financial assistance to centres and day homes that offer infant and toddler care to address their higher staffing costs and to encourage more centres to create spaces for very young children.
• Make the Children’s Advocate independent of the Children’s Services ministry.

Protecting Our Communities

An Alberta Liberal government will provide the necessary support to communities and first responders to ensure that safety is a priority.

Alberta Liberal Action Plan for Crime and Safety

• Increase the current police funding formula for Edmonton and Calgary to at least $20 per capita.
• Work with major cities to improve security on transit systems.
• Revamp the police funding formula for communities with populations from 5,001 to 20,000, and from 20,001 to 100,000.
• Develop a Unified Family Court system for Alberta, which provides a single forum for families or individuals to address legal issues that arise out of a family breakdown.
• Support and expand diversionary courts.
• Develop independent review boards to deal with allegations of serious police misconduct.
• Adopt the RCMP recommendations on the use of Tasers.
• Amend the Victims Restitution and Compensation Payment Act and other legislation to allow the province to seize assets gained through illegal activities and allocate the proceeds to victims of crime.
• Press the federal government to tighten parole criteria for violent and repeat offenders.
• Encourage and adequately fund community policing initiatives to provide a higher level of neighbourhood security.
• Encourage rental properties to be certified ‘crime free,’ based on a successful pilot program in Edmonton’s social housing projects.
• Establish minimum drink prices in bars to curb public drunkenness.

Crime

• Introduced an aggressive plan to get tough on criminals, reduce crime and make our communities safer by hiring more police and prosecutors, increasing treatment beds for alcoholism, drug addiction and mental illness, and supporting victims of crime

Courts

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will provide access to our justice system by ensuring that court fees are affordable.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will ensure all Albertans have equal access to legal representation and justice.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute a program where all sentences given in provincial court will be subject to a truth in sentencing provision. This provision will eliminate the possibility of parole; the full sentence will be served. While a sentence could not be shortened, provisions would be made to provide for sentence extensions for unacceptable behavior.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute the right of compensation from convicted persons to the victims of their crimes.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will inform victims of crime regarding the progress of prosecution.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will introduce new initiatives for Maintenance Enforcement to bring about improved compliance with maintenance and visitation orders.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute legally enforceable arbitration between all parties in a legal dispute to settle non-criminal actions.
  

Firearms

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will challenge all federally sponsored firearms control legislation as being unconstitutional. Firearms are property and therefore fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the provincial government.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support the right to own, enjoy and use firearms in a responsible manner.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will hold a referendum on the use of the not-withstanding clause as it relates to firearms ownership if needed.
  

Policing

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will establish an Alberta provincial police force. Alberta can operate a more efficient and effective police force than Ottawa can.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will establish an independent investigation agency for the purpose of reviewing complaints against the police and private security companies and administering disciplinary action.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will ensure auxiliary police officers are properly trained and armed to protect their communities.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will ensure police have the tools required to pursue internet-related crimes such as child pornography.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will ensure sufficient funding for municipal policing to allow for effective policing and protection of Alberta people.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute a program of community policing which will put more police officers on the street.
  

Property

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will protect private property rights to prevent government from expropriating assets without fair compensation.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will vigorously defend Albertans ownership of provincial land and resources.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will enact privacy legislation that includes regulations governing the use of video surveillance equipment on public and private land.
  

Sex-Offenders

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will insist on the development of a national sex-offender registry with links to the provinces.

System Confidence

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute greater independence within the office of the Minister of Justice.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will stand up for the equality of all Canadians and all provinces under the Canadian Constitution.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute a wide-scale independent public review of the entire system of justice in Alberta in order to strengthen the system and enhance public confidence in it.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will work to ensure that the rights of crime victims take precedence over those found guilty of committing crimes.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will oppose allowing criminals to vote while they are incarcerated.
  

Traffic

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will return 75% of all traffic fine revenue to municipalities to improve community policing and crime prevention.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will eliminate photo radar and red light cameras and put police officers back on the street enforcing traffic safety.
• The Alberta Alliance Government will pursue a program to ensure that all registered vehicles are properly insured.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will repeal the regulations that concern Graduated Licensing for new drivers in the province of Alberta.
  

Young Offenders

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will require young offenders to participate in crime prevention courses to emphasize the impact of crime on victims and the future prospects of perpetrators.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will require all young offenders to perform some form of community service.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will require young offenders to take educational courses that focus on literacy, life skills and, when required, to undergo programs to end chemical dependency.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute a program whereby juvenile records would be released at the first adult indictable conviction so that long time offenders can be quickly identified.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute a program whereby juvenile offenders could be sentenced to boot camps featuring physical labour and education.

Budget

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute a zero based budgeting program in all government departments. The program will require justification of all funds spent each year; not a standard percentage increase as presently exists.
•  A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute a mandatory yearly balanced (projected and actual) budget provision for the Province.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will not borrow any funds for current government financial obligations.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will pass Truth in Budgeting legislation that ensures all provincial finances are fully, accurately and honestly reported under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support the Auditor General's Office to help identify and prevent waste and to help ensure value for money.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will prevent the government from spending taxpayer’s money without prior Legislative approval by eliminating the use of Special Warrants.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will require crown corporations to be directly accountable to a committee of the Legislature for their financial management and budget plans.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will reward provincial government departments and agencies that operate efficiently and under budget to retain up to 35% of their budget surplus for use in future year’s capital and/or operating expenses.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will use surplus funds to pay debts owed by the Alberta Government.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will limit growth in government spending to the rates of inflation and population growth of Alberta.
  

Banking System

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will return the Alberta Treasury Branch to its original purpose of providing competitive financial services to Alberta families, farmers and small businesses.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will actively support efforts to increase competition among the financial institutions within Alberta.
  

Crown Lands

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will review access to crown lands and resources.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will ensure that crown corporations are subject to local zoning and land-use by-laws.
  

Domestic Trade

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will work to remove inter-provincial trade barriers.

Employment Insurance

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will opt out of the Canada Employment Insurance program and replace it with an Alberta Employment Insurance program for Albertans.

Energy

•  A Wildrose Alliance Government will support a free market approach to energy production to provide abundant energy at competitive prices for Albertans and export.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support education and research into energy-efficient homes, businesses and government offices.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will require building and land use-planning codes to have high-energy conservation standards.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will encourage the recovery of waste energy through co-generation, such as providing heat for buildings from cooling water at power plants.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will recognize the importance of the energy resource sector to the province and will strive to reduce the industries cost of doing business.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will create a new position on the EUB with the responsibility to represent surface and land owners rights on the board.
  

Financial Responsibility

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will cut red tape and the regulatory burden by 1/3 within three years.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will make major capital spending and land-use decisions openly in the Legislature, and not behind closed doors.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute complete financial disclosure of all provincial finances including the Heritage Trust Fund, government crown corporations and all government investments. The disclosures will be made in the Legislature with a complete accounting available to Alberta citizens.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will establish a waste Buster website to help identify report and stamp out government waste.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will eliminate government subsidies to businesses that give some companies an unfair advantage over their competitors.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will grant the Provincial Auditor full access to all Government funded companies, crown corporations and subsidiaries of crown corporations.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute a merit system within government departments that will reward individuals for service levels, initiative and efficiency.
  

Forestry

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will permit only ecologically sound and economically sustainable forestry management methods.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will enhance long-term forestry management and planning to provide greater stability for working families by establishing a working forestland base.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will create a market-based stumpage system that reflects global market realities and local harvesting costs.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will invest in research to promote good forest stewardship.
  

Heritage Fund

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will recognize that the Heritage Savings and Trust Fund belongs to the people of Alberta not the government.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will set up the Heritage Savings and Trust Fund as a separate crown corporation thereby limiting the involvement of the government of the day.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will limit withdrawals from the Heritage Savings and Trust Fund for government purposes by requiring authorization via a binding referendum on all such withdrawals.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute a policy of providing from the earnings of the Heritage Savings and Trust Fund a tax-free dividend to each person who has been a citizen of Alberta for one year. The amount of the dividend will be based upon a formula set out in the provincial constitution and will be issued on a set date each year.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will model the managing principles of the Heritage Savings and Trust Fund after the Alaska Permanent Fund.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute a policy of depositing a set percentage of government natural resource income each year into the Heritage Savings and Trust Fund.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will build up the value of the Heritage Savings and Trust Fund with the goal of using a portion of the interest earned by the fund to eliminate Alberta personal income taxes.
  

Open Tendering

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will require that all Government purchases be made through an open tender process.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will have open tendering on government contracts that allow fair competition for businesses and to provide better value to taxpayers.
  

Pension Plan

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will withdraw from the Canada Pension Plan and create an Alberta Pension Plan. The Alberta plan will offer the same benefits at a lower cost while giving Albertans control over the investment fund.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will regard pensions as a provincial responsibility as is permitted and evidenced by the Quebec Pension Plan.
  

Privatization

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support free and profit oriented enterprise. The role of government is not to own and operate a business when a competitive business market exists. Historically taxpayers have experienced significant financial losses from government involvement within competitive private enterprise.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute privatization of crown corporations.
  

Spending Control Legislation

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will impose financial penalties on Cabinet Ministers who exceed their department budget.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will base all program spending on the historic average for provincial natural resource revenues.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will remove the expression of one-time spending from political discourse.
  

Subsidies

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will phase out all government subsidies.

Taxation

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute a flat fixed percentage rate Provincial Income Tax of 7% with a basic personal exemption of $20,000.00 with deductions for recognized charitable donations.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will oppose the application of unfair and industry specific taxation such as the National Energy Program from the federal government. All industries should be treated equally and fairly within the taxation system.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will work with the federal government to ensure that our tax treatment of stock options and capital gains is globally competitive.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support the direct assessment and collection of taxes by each level of government as they require allowing taxation to be open, visible and easily identified.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will actively work to disentangle and eliminate the duplication of government authorities and services.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will fight for Alberta’s fair share of federal tax dollars through a more equitable distribution of federal transfer payments and contracts.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will eliminate many nuisance taxes and user fees.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will ensure that dedicated taxes go to the dedicated sources. For example: hotel taxes will be used to enhance tourism and gasoline taxes will go toward road maintenance and transportation services not into the general revenue fund.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will phase out taxes on investment and productivity to stimulate economic growth and job creation.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will establish a per child income tax deduction for parents or guardians.
  

Taxpayer Protection Act

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will require approval of provincial and municipal tax increases through a binding referendum.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will collect the Alberta personal income tax as is already done for Alberta corporate income tax.
  

Technology

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will establish a Premier's Council on Technology to help bridge the digital divide and recommend strategies to enable Albertans to participate in and benefit from employment and opportunities in the technology economy.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support the extension of high-speed, broadband Internet access to every community in Alberta through wireless technology, cable, phone lines and fiber optics.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will put more computers in schools and more resources into enhancing computer literacy.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will make Alberta a world leader in E-government giving all citizens and businesses better on-line access to core services 24 hours a day seven days a week.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will use on-line procurement technology to lower operating costs and maximize taxpayers value-for-money on all major government purchases.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will cut the cost of paper flow by digitizing government data, forms and information.
  

Tourism

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will negotiate cooperative control of the National Parks in Alberta with the Government of Canada.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support tourism as a major growth area of the Alberta economy and will work to stimulate tourism with a plan to improve the tourist operator’s ability to successfully compete for visitors from around the world.
  

Transportation

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute a program of upgrading the provincial transportation systems to provide a viable network that will join all regions within Alberta resulting in enhanced domestic and international agricultural and business export opportunities.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will mandate that all revenues generated by the provincial gasoline tax will be used for transportation purposes such as road upgrading and public transportation.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will focus resources on improving Northern and rural transportation.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will develop a comprehensive transportation strategy that recognizes the interdependence of national, provincial and municipal responsibilities in maintaining Alberta’s transportation infrastructure.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will develop a cooperative dialogue with municipalities on transportation.

Leadership in Public and Advanced Education

An Alberta Liberal government will properly fund public education. We will take steps to improve our post-secondary institutions while at the same time making them more accessible.

Post-secondary education

• Create a Post-Secondary Endowment Fund, using a portion of oil and gas royalties. In just 15 years, the endowment could grow to $15 billion and generate $770 million in extra funding every year.
• Create a $500 million Endowment for the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, using a portion of oil and gas royalties.
• Restore legislature control over tuition increases.
• Create targeted additional learning spaces for areas with a high number of applicants.
• Reduce interest rates on Alberta student loans, and increase the part-time earning limits.
• Provide three-year funding envelopes for post-secondary institutions so they may better plan for the future.
• Expand the Alberta Opportunities Bursary by doubling the funding and expanding eligibility.
• Recognize regional disparities in allocating student loans.
• Reduce or eliminate property taxes for on-campus student housing to make accommodation more affordable and to encourage the building of more spaces.
• Establish teaching chairs to support and recognize excellence at post-secondary institutions.
• Establish Mount Royal University in Calgary.

K–12 education

• Support the Learning Commission’s recommendations for class sizes.
• Eliminate school fees and parent fundraising for essentials.
• Review the utilization formula for all schools, rural and urban, and, in the meantime, enact a three-year moratorium on school closures.
• Phase in new junior kindergarten programs (starting with at-risk children) and establish full-day kindergarten as recommended by the Alberta Commission on Learning.
• Reinforce the status of arts, second languages and physical education as essential complements to the core curriculum.
• Identify learning problems in or by the end of Grade 1.
• Move toward a more diagnostic model for Grade 3 provincial tests to ensure student success.
• Enable a “community schools” program, under which community supports such as health care, child care, after-school care and social services can be integrated under one roof.
• Fund additional supports for special-needs students, gifted students and students whose first language is not English.
• Introduce a school nutrition program to ensure atrisk children a healthy start at school every day.
• Maintain the current number of elected rural school boards, to keep the control of rural education in local hands.
• Recognize and address the transportation pressures facing rural school boards.
• Develop a career education program for junior and senior high school students with an emphasis on apprenticeship training.

Aboriginal education

• Take aggressive measures—including mentorship programs, apprenticeship programs and specialized curriculum initiatives—to boost high school completion rates among Aboriginal students until they are on par with the rest of Alberta’s students.
• Require annual progress reports on First Nations, Métis and Inuit Policy Framework Initiatives from Alberta Education.

Education

• Undertook the single largest schools project in Canada to construct over 22,000 new K-12 student spaces in the next two years, opening 18 new schools in Edmonton and Calgary by September 2010
• Provided funding for the backlog of needed renovations to older schools across Alberta
• Reached an agreement to resolve the teachers’ pension plan and prevent strikes for five years
• Developed a toolkit to help kids finish high school; and invested $4.5 million to help students learn job skills while they attend school
• Created 1000 new spaces for post-secondary students in energy, environment and economy studies
• Created 6000 new apprenticeship seats

Courses

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will ensure that the arts, music and physical education curriculums are fully funded in Alberta’s public schools.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute mandatory Canadian History courses in all middle and high schools in Alberta.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will encourage and promote the development of student entrepreneurial courses in Alberta schools to teach students the fundamentals of business as well as the responsibilities and challenges that face those who own and operate businesses.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will investigate online educational initiatives for students in remote areas and for Alberta children receiving home schooling.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will implement Alberta Citizenship courses for grades K-12 to strengthen and support family values, democratic principles and duties of citizenship.
  

Education Standards

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will set high standards for education. The standards addressing student readiness, teacher quality, high school graduation, and family literacy will to improve student learning from early childhood to adult education.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will improve the education system by measuring progress to know when we succeed and when we fail. The process will measure student learning from year to year and become the backbone of the Alberta education accountability system.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will establish a clear reporting mechanism for achievement. Once progress is measured it will be reported to the students, parents and communities the schools serve. Given reliable and easy to understand information on the quality of the schools parents can become better partners in the effort to improve the schools.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute a school performance report card system where each school will receive a grade ranging from A to F. Performance rewards will be issued. School performance will include overall student achievement and the achievement of the lowest performing students. Passing marks will not be given to a school if students are left behind. Schools with excellent performance or significant improvement will be recognized. Parents will receive report cards on how well their child’s school performs each year. School Report Cards will become valuable tools for assessing progress within the education system.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will help failing schools. Schools with added challenges need our help and attention; they need our best teachers, our strongest partnerships, and our most determined parents.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will eliminate the policy of social promotion (being promoted without demonstrating achievement) in Alberta’s schools. Students will be required to meet standards in order to be promoted to the next grade.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will reward schools for achievement and improvement. The private sector has long used incentives to improve performance. It works! The public sector however sometimes confuses uniformity with fairness. The true measure of fairness is when compensation matches the quality of work.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute annual testing of all students on provincially established evaluations on all subjects studied by the individual student. A passing grade will be 50% or more with results being given in actual percentages and not pass/fail terms.
  

Post-Secondary Education

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute an educational scholarship form of financing for all Albertans seeking a post-secondary education. Each qualified Alberta student will receive a full scholarship for five years to the post secondary institution of choice within Alberta.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will give priority for admission and funding to Alberta students to Alberta post-secondary institutions over out of province students seeking admission and funding.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will endeavor to utilize the technology available to make higher education more accessible to all Albertans.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will work with employers, post-secondary institutions and the Alberta Industry Training and Apprenticeship Commission to increase training and apprenticeships in the trades and technical sectors.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will strengthen the network of colleges, institutes and on-line learning opportunities throughout the province.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will increase research and development funding for colleges, universities and institutes and encourage private sector partnerships.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will double the annual number of graduates in computer science and electrical and computer engineering within five years.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will increase investment in technology research and post-secondary skills training.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support continuing education for members of the professions in the province.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will provide forgivable student loans to Alberta students attending accredited schools of education providing they teach for ten years in underserved communities in Alberta.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will include the total cost of post secondary education when calculating amounts for student loans.
  

Professional Teachers

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will reward high performing and excellent educators.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will improve teacher training.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will hold educators accountable for performance. Just as excellence is rewarded lower performing teachers must be accountable for their performance. Teachers who receive less than satisfactory evaluations will be offered assistance and required to demonstrate competence prior to being re-certified to continue teaching. As a condition of re-certification, teachers will have a one year probation during which time they are to correct deficiencies. They will be required to pass the subject area test for their area of certification. The duty to fairly and accurately assess teacher performance will be a prominent part of the statutory duty of school administrators.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will restore education as an essential service under the Labour Code ensuring that no child’s right to an education is denied by school strikes or lockouts.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will establish a new professional organization for educators patterned after the Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons.
  

School Choice

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support School Choice. School choice gives parents the chance to be integral participants in their children’s education. A supportive home life is an important factor in educational achievement. Choice empowers people to become more involved, effective and satisfied as citizens. Children whose parents are able to choose their educational environment learn better and have a better chance at becoming productive Alberta citizens. School choice improves public education and better prepares our children for the future. School choice is about equality, empowerment, parental choice and opportunity for our children.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will empower parents in the educational process.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will enable parents, whether rich or poor, to select the school their children will attend. Parents know their children best care the most and are most affected by the success or failure of the decision.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute a student based funding system for financing education which will allow funding via Alberta Opportunity Scholarships to follow the student to the accredited education facility of parental choice.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will mandate that Alberta Opportunity Scholarships include all funding for student education ñ instruction, support and capital.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will apply the same funding rate per student throughout the province with extra funding for programs which address special needs programs.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will observe the following principles of School Choice Legislation to ensure fairness and acceptability.
• 1) It must not disturb families happy with their child’s current school.
• 2) It must not reduce per-pupil spending in the public schools and should not increase total public spending on education except for increases that occur as the result of increased student numbers, commitment to education overall or inflation.
• 3) It must ensure that participation in the system of opportunity scholarships is voluntary for both the families and educational institutions.
• 4) It must include all public, private, and religiously affiliated schools that wish to participate and are prepared to accept reasonable measures of accountability.
• 5) It must not introduce any regulations on private schools that would threaten their mission, identity or autonomy; and offer timely deregulation program to public schools that wish it.
• 6) It must include provisions to assure that children from low-income families have fair access to the public schools their families prefer.
• 7) It must safeguard the interests of the families and taxpayers by ensuring that no school advocating unlawful behavior; promoting hatred of any person or group on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, national origin, religion or gender; or deliberately providing false or misleading information shall be eligible to redeem opportunity scholarships.
• 8) Implementation must be gradual, orderly and fair protecting individual schools from abrupt large-scale reductions or unmanageable increases in their student populations.
• 9) It must phase in opportunity scholarships for children who are already outside the school system including those who are home-schooled.
• 10) It must be compliant with federal and provincial constitutional provisions, readily understood by ordinary citizens and be able to be implemented without excessive administration.
  

School Safety

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will invest in school safety to ensure a safe secure leaning environment for students.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will establish a school violence and crime electronic data reporting system.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will require schools to develop plans that include specific measures for improving school discipline and safety.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will expand second chance schools for disruptive and violent youth and will work to curb the chronic drop out problem.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will prepare teachers to manage classroom discipline. Teachers consistently rate classroom management as the weakest area of preparation for the job of teaching and today’s students can be challenging.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will work to reduce absenteeism and truancy. School absenteeism and truancy lead to low student performance and increased daytime juvenile crime. Students must be in school to benefit from programs funded by taxpayers.

Sustainable Forests

An Alberta Liberal government will support a strong, sustainable forestry industry.

Alberta Liberal Action Plan for Forestry

• Work closely with forest industry operators to ease the blow from the collapsed U.S. housing market, the high Canadian dollar, and the impact of pine beetle.
• Examine a tax credit for new and recent machinery and equipment installed to improve efficiency and environmental performance.
• Support the development of biomass energy projects that use wood fiber, including electrical generation at forest manufacturing mills.
• Re-regulate electricity (as mentioned earlier).
• Work with industry to streamline forest regulatory system.

Green energy plan

Securing a prosperous future means looking beyond fossil fuels. Alberta’s NDP has an ambitious plan to make Alberta a global leader in green energy. We would use increased royalty revenue to develop solar, wind, and geothermal alternatives in Alberta and invest in green energy research and economic development for the future.

Air Quality

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will research methods to improve indoor air quality to develop standards that ensure health is not compromised by the use of energy efficient potentially harmful materials.

Clean Water

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute a Clean Drinking Water Act. The Act will create a designated lead agency under the Ministry of Environment with responsibility for province-wide standards, monitoring and enforcement. The Clean Drinking Water Act will: 1.Ban the dumping of untreated waste & sewage into waterways.2. Create incentives for water conservation such as providing assistance for municipalities to modernize water delivery systems to metered user- pay systems. 3.Conduct an inventory of all groundwater and bodies of water. 4.Develop and implement strategies for cleaning up polluted bodies of water.

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will encourage conservation of water taken from lakes or rivers for agricultural, industrial and domestic purposes.

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will impose strict regulations on all effluent producing industries and ensure that the costs of water treatment and purification are borne by the polluter.

Conservation

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will recognize the value of parks to society and protect these areas from intrusive activities.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will establish balanced ecological reserves in Alberta.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will actively oppose the implementation of the Kyoto accord.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will not adhere or enforce restrictions and/or quotas outlined in the Kyoto Protocol that are deemed to have a negative impact on the Alberta economy.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will ban wild animal trade, whole or in parts, that threatens the natural wildlife populations.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will require governments to meet high environmental standards in their procurement, recycling and construction operations.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will ensure the environmental laws and regulations are reasonable, sensible and have a relationship to reality and common sense.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will allow private prosecutions against companies or individuals who have allegedly damaged the environment.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will rehabilitate sites which have contaminated soils and vigorously pursue legal claims against those originally responsible for the contamination.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will recognize the vital contributions Conservation Officers make to our province and will work with them to ensure that they are properly screened, trained and equipped to the greatest possible extent to ensure their safety while carrying out their duties.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will conserve Alberta’s environment while balancing economic development opportunities in the province’s future.

Protection

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will establish an Alberta environmental ombudsman.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will require Ecological Impact Assessments for all large projects. Particularity those projects in sensitive areas or that involve unproven technologies or that generate significant public concern.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will have elected Ecological Impact Assessments Review Panels by the citizens of Alberta. The panel will have local representation and the power to approve, change or halt any project they review.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will require that Ecological Impact Assessments be all encompassing in terms of the environment and the people affected by each project and include the cumulative effect of related projects.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will study the concept of environmentally sensitive zoning.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will strive to eliminate toxins from our environment.

Sustainable Forests

An Alberta Liberal government will support a strong, sustainable forestry industry.

Alberta Liberal Action Plan for Forestry

• Work closely with forest industry operators to ease the blow from the collapsed U.S. housing market, the high Canadian dollar, and the impact of pine beetle.
• Examine a tax credit for new and recent machinery and equipment installed to improve efficiency and environmental performance.
• Support the development of biomass energy projects that use wood fiber, including electrical generation at forest manufacturing mills.
• Re-regulate electricity (as mentioned earlier).
• Work with industry to streamline forest regulatory system.

Leadership in Public Health Care

An Alberta Liberal government will strengthen and improve sustainable public health care, not dismantle it.

The Alberta Liberal Action Plan for Health Care

Address health workforce shortages

• Train enough nurses, doctors and other health professionals to meet Alberta’s need.
• Explore new ways of funding physicians, creatingmultidisciplinary health care teams and encouraging better workforce tracking.

Reduce wait times

• Create specialized surgical centres within the
  public system.
• Implement a province-wide Community Health Centre model, providing more flexible access to physicians, encouraging more efficient use of other health professionals, and reducing emergency room overcrowding.
• Increase acute care capacity to reduce overcrowding, by constructing new hospitals in southeast Calgary, Grande Prairie and elsewhere, and devise long-term plans to open more beds in Edmonton and rural centres.
• Provide prompt and equal access to medically necessary MRI and CT scans.

Manage health system costs

• Implement a public pharmacare program to reduce costs and ensure equal access to medications.
• Conduct an independent and open review of regionalization including the role of the Department of Health and Wellness.
• Establish predictable funding levels, adjusted annually to reflect population growth, inflation, and aging.
• Ensure adequate funding for rural health services to reflect the special challenges and higher costs of delivering those services in sparsely populated regions.
• Create stable funding and long-term planning to accommodate an aging population.
• Bring the WCB back to using the public health care system so that the financial benefits of treating WCB clients flow back to taxpayers.

Families and Health

• Increased child care subsidies; increased wages for child care staff; and funded the creation of additional child care spaces
• Started implementing a plan to attract and train health professionals
• Created 845 new training spaces in medicine
• Approved funding for new hospitals in Sherwood Park and Grande Prairie, the Edmonton Clinic and the South Calgary
  Health Campus
• Approved $280 million for 832 continuing care beds to alleviate pressure in hospitals and meet the needs of an aging population

Care of Patients

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will fully enforce the five basic principles of the Canada Health Act which are: Public Administration, Comprehensiveness, Universality, Portability and Accessibility.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will provide coverage for authorized out of province medical treatment that is unavailable in Alberta.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will establish provincial health standards to ensure that all citizens in every part of the province have to equitable, reliable and high quality health services.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will secure the rights of persons with a disability to ongoing access of extended medical benefits.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will develop a Medical Machinery and Equipment Plan that ensures existing medical diagnostic and care equipment is adequately staffed, fully utilized and properly maintained and that provides for future investments in new equipment and technology.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will commit to develop provincial standards for acute care services.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will establish and fund a fully independent Health Ombudsman in Alberta. The purpose of the Health Ombudsman will be to resolve complaints from residents regarding the health care system in Alberta.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will fully fund and implement a mental health initiative.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will focus funding on patient care and reduce waste in the system and eliminate administrative duplication and costs from provincial government mismanagement.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will provide expanded home care and palliative care services to assist chronically and terminally ill patients with supportive home environments as an option to institutional care.
  

Delivery

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will abolish the government appointed regional health boards and replace them with democratically elected local hospital boards and the professional management of health care dollars.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will develop a decentralized model for health care service delivery assuring local accountability and community participation.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will allow all hospitals and other health care facilities to compete.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will develop performance measures that are annually audited and publicly reported for each health standard to ensure the entire health system is accountable for providing the prescribed levels of patient care.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will enhance health care professionals quality of life by increasing locum support to relieve pressure and reduce workloads.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will guarantee minimal wait times for heath care services.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will work with non-profit societies to build and operate an additional 5,000 intermediate and long-term care beds within four years.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will build a unified, universal and cost-effective health services information network that will improve care and reduce long-term costs.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will develop a comprehensive technology plan to assist health care professionals in delivering faster more effective treatment to patients through new information technology and telemedicine.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will increase technology funding and digital infrastructure support to facilitate tele-health options that will expedite and improve treatments and reduce travel requirements for Northern and rural residents.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will give all citizens better access to their medical records and treatment histories.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will give all citizens enhanced medical information privacy rights.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support community service volunteers and repeal the legislation that allows government to expropriate community health facilities without compensation.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will work to minimize inter-jurisdictional overlaps that add confusion and cost to health care delivery.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute a new Health Management System that rewards cost effective cost-saving administration by providing incentives to doctors, nurses and health care professionals.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will allow innovations in the delivery of health care.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will create a new model for health care delivery that is holistic in its approach. The model will incorporate alternative and preventative care and ensure that the responsibility for diagnosis and treatment are shared across a broad range of certified health care professionals in a more democratic flexible team work based environment.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will alleviate pressure on emergency room services by expanding the funding for and the number of multi-disciplinary 24-hour-a-day community based health care centres.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will enhance Midwifery services within the province.
  

Funding

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will provide health care funding by providing for patient treatment. Health care funding will follow the service to the health care provider and approved facility of choice.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will eliminate healthcare premiums.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will increase funding for home care, supported housing, assisted living, long-term care facilities and palliative care hospices to provide less expensive and more patient-friendly alternatives to hospital care.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will encourage dialogue among health care consumers and providers about the allocation of health care resources.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will have ambulance charges covered by Alberta Health Care.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will pressure the federal government to restore the health care funding withdrawn through budget cuts.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will reduce transportation and lodging costs for rural patients who receive treatment that is not locally available by developing a rural medical travel assistance program.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will ensure that patients living at home in palliative or long term care are entitled to the same pharmaceutical benefits as they would have if they were in a hospital.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will consider fully funding services and products offered by licensed naturopathic physicians.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will restore funding for chiropractic and physiotherapy services.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will hold a referendum to prioritize health care spending.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will deliver an annual Individual Statement of Benefits to each resident of Alberta outlining the health care products and services received from the provincial health care system and the cost of those products and services.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will mandate that hospitalization costs of vehicle accidents caused by inebriation will be covered by the individuals vehicle insurance.
  

Training

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will expand training and post-secondary programs to graduate more Care Aides, Licensed Practical Nurses and Registered Nurses.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will provide forgivable student loans to Alberta students attending accredited nursing and medical schools provided they practice for ten years in underserved communities in Alberta.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will increase the number of medical school graduates within five years.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will develop a 10-year human resource plan that properly provides for the training, recruitment and retention of physicians, nurses, specialists and other health care providers in every area of the province and that addresses critical skill shortages and staffing levels in under-serviced areas.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will provide assistance and opportunities to help nurses develop the specialized skills needed in intensive care units, emergency rooms and operating theaters.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will introduce a Rural and Remote Training Support program that provides financial and travel assistance to health care professionals who want to update or upgrade their skills and training.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will increase the number of residency positions in Alberta's hospitals within five years.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will give ambulance attendants better access to training and to the improved life-support and communications equipment needed to capitalize on the training received.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will increase education funding in post-secondary institutes to upgrade the qualifications of current health care professionals and train more doctors, nurses, ambulance paramedics and alternative health care professionals to meet Alberta’s long term needs.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will develop and implement a retention and recruitment plan in full consultation with all health care service providers that will more effectively attract needed health care professionals to Alberta.
  

Wellness

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute preventative health care and the incorporation of a health and wellness program in all educational institutions.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will provide Albertans with a choice for alternative medicine covered by Medicare.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will encourage health care practitioners to emphasize wellness, self-reliance and conservation through preventative approaches to the practice of medicine.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will promote the elimination of pollutants from the environment as a positive instrument of health care.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will develop an Intermediate and Long-Term Care Facilities Plan which will address the needs of our aging population and free up existing acute care beds.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will establish a Rural and Remote Health Initiative to ensure families get the care they need where they live when they need it.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will launch a massive recruitment drive to bring non-practicing RNs and LPNs back into our health care system.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will intensify efforts to promote wellness and preventative care through better education, dietary habits and physical activity.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will increase funding for physical fitness and amateur sports to promote physical fitness and participation in amateur sport.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will enhance efforts to prevent drug and alcohol abuse and addiction.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will undertake a targeted education campaign to reduce incidence of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS).
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support the use of self-directed, alternative forms of medical treatment, as a means of returning more responsibility to citizens for the management of their own health needs.

•  Increased funding to women’s shelters and sexual assault centres
• Increased the tax credit for charitable donations
• Increased monthly benefits for AISH clients from $1000 to $1050 per month effective April 1, 2007 with a second increase of 3.6% effective January 1, 2008, bringing the monthly supplement to $1088. The AISH program helps 36,000 disabled Albertans deal with the cost of living

Insuring Alberta is a Place We Can Afford to Call Home

What could be more important than having a safe and comfortable home? In a province without a plan, housing prices have skyrocketed beyond the reach of many families, and Albertans are suffering.

Alberta Liberal Action Plan for Homelessness and Affordable Housing

• Implement the Alberta Liberal Affordable Housing Strategy, including a temporary 10 per cent cap on rent increases, a limit of one rent increase per year, and a moratorium on condominium conversions, except where developers agree to replace any lost rental units with new rental properties.
• Through the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, co-ordinate and assist in implementing municipal plans to end homelessness by creating the office of Director of Housing and Human Services.
• Introduce ‘Permanent Supportive Housing,’ which provides the chronically homeless with stable housing options combined with support and clinical services.
• Involve other ministries—Education, Health, Justice, Solicitor General, Children’s Services and Municipal Affairs and Housing—in a joint effort to prevent atrisk children from becoming homeless.
• Allow for the creation of more secondary suites in homes, and offer grants of up to $5,000 to homeowners to create new suites.
• Amend the Municipal Government Act to allow cities and towns the power to include minimum percentages of affordable housing in any new
  developments or redevelopments.
• Swap or donate land to local land trusts to devote in perpetuity to affordable housing; implement tax breaks to encourage private landowners to contribute their property to affordable housing projects.
• Encourage local governments to freeze, reduce or eliminate property taxes on affordable rental units by providing corresponding grants to municipalities to make up for the lost revenue.
• Encourage municipalities to eliminate development fee levies, fast-track building permits and waive permit fees.
• Match funding with the federal government’s Affordable Housing Trust and the Off-Reserve Aboriginal Housing Trust.
• Help up to 5,000 families achieve home ownership by extending financial assistance to moderate income earners who wish to buy their own homes, partnering with the private sector and community housing agencies to accomplish this goal.
• Connect allowances and supplements to the renter, not the unit.
• Provide low- or no-interest loans to qualifying lowincome earners to cover the cost of the security deposit and one-month’s rent.
• Expand the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service, a program which is designed to reduce costs, wait times and the burden on the courts to resolve landlord-tenant disputes.

Housing

• Developed a plan to end homelessness in Alberta within ten years
• Created an immediate fund of $285 million to invest in municipal housing projects, help tenants facing unaffordable rent, build and improve affordable housing, and support
  the homeless

Housing

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will allocate publicly owned land for affordable housing where appropriate.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will implement a flexible innovative program to increase the supply of affordable housing.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will have as a goal the elimination of homelessness in Alberta within its first term of office.
  

Governing With Compassion

An Alberta Liberal government will treat our society’s most vulnerable citizens with the compassion and respect that they deserve.

Alberta Liberal Action Plan for Human Services

• Replace the workfare model with social justice and social development approaches, to better enable people toward self-sufficiency.
• To address the current staffing crisis, ensure that human services workers in the not-for-profit sector receive the same wages and benefits as their government counterparts.
• Index AISH benefits according to Statistics Canada “average weekly earnings” for Alberta (as is done with MLA salaries).
• Work with AISH stakeholders to identify and address deficiencies in the current program.
• Streamline the AISH application system.
• Review the Persons with Developmental Disabilities (PDD) program to ensure that the funding provides quality services and care to adults with developmental difficulties, and reaches the front-line.

Strengthening Our Foundation

The richest province in Canada should be able to properly maintain its roads, schools and hospitals.

Alberta Liberal Action Plan for Infrastructure

• Retire the infrastructure debt by 2014, using a portion of royalties (as mentioned earlier).
• Fix our roads, and address the problem of inadequate highways.
• Finance the building of needed hospitals, schools, and other public facilities, and properly maintain existing infrastructure.
• Avoid public-private partnerships (P3s)—debt by another name—for core infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, and roads.

Infrastructure

• Provided $11.3 billion over ten years to municipalities so they can plan in advance to manage growth by building roads, transit, housing and other infrastructure
• Delivered a 20-year strategic plan to catch up on high priority infrastructure projects, and to provide Albertans with the confidence that needed health, education and post-secondary facilities and transportation systems will anticipate future growth
• Our plan will commit an average of $6 billion a year to build, maintain and repair the schools, hospitals, highways, urban transit, universities, colleges, parks, and seniors care facilities that our growing population needs

Fairness and Safety in the Workplace

The Alberta Liberals believe in fair and equitable treatment of the workforce.  Workers deserve to be valued and treated with respect.

Alberta Liberal Action Plan for Labour

• Revise the labour code to bring it up to 21st century standards and to reflect the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
• Vigorously enforce employment and safety standards in the workplace.
• Devise a comprehensive human-resources strategy to better anticipate changes in Alberta’s labour needs and reduce our reliance on solutions such as temporary foreign workers.
• Allow temporary foreign workers only after all possible sources of labour have been exhausted.
• Expand the role and size of special advisory offices for temporary foreign workers province-wide. Prosecute businesses or individuals who violate foreign workers’ conditions of employment.
• Expand the Provincial Nominee Program.
• Establish direct first-contract certification.
• Prohibit the use of replacement workers during legal labour disputes.
• Establish an independent inquiry into the operations of the Workers’ Compensation Board.

Labour

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support a comprehensive program to foster a cooperative partnership between Business, Labour and Government enabling Alberta businesses to compete effectively in a global marketplace.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will pursue an aggressive program of cooperative workplace health and safety inspections.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will allow individual workers to voluntarily determine their membership in labour organizations.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will allow competition to the Workers Compensation Board.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will give workers and employers greater flexibility within the Employment Standards to negotiate mutually beneficial relationships that help them compete and prosper.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will extend to workers the democratic right to a secret ballot vote on labour organization certification under the Labour Code and ensure that the same rules apply for de-certification as for certification.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will make the Workers Compensation Board more responsive to workers and employers needs.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will extend the right of incorporation to all occupations and will work with professional associations to implement this policy.
  

Stronger Municipalities

An Alberta Liberal government will build a working partnership between the province and its municipalities, ending years of rancour and dependence.

Alberta Liberal Action Plan for Municipalities

• Honour the 10-year Municipal Sustainability Initiative for the life of the agreement. The cumulative value of that agreement to Alberta’s
  cities, towns, counties and municipal districts will not fall below $11.3 billion.
• Amend the Alberta Act to constitutionalize municipalities and school boards, clarifying and securing their jurisdiction over areas of local responsibility.
• Enact a Big Cities Charter to give Calgary and Edmonton clearly spelled-out powers with respect to local matters and the authority to act independently within those areas of responsibility.
• Identify high-growth areas in Alberta and establish regional planning mechanisms within those areas to develop and implement growth plans, to focus and guide future development.

Government That Truly Serves Albertans

Democracy has become derailed in Alberta.  Let’s put it back on track.

The Alberta Liberals will define and shape genuine democratic processes that restore people’s involvement in government. We will be inspired by the possibilities of activating democracy at every level of politics.

Alberta Liberal Action Plan for Open, Accountable Government

• Conduct a comprehensive review of government programs to root out duplication and inefficiency, providing better service to Albertans while saving hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
• Bring fixed election dates to Alberta.
• Create a Citizen’s Assembly on Electoral Reform to study other voting systems, such as proportional representation. A province-wide plebiscite will follow.
• Work towards equal representation of women and men in the Alberta Legislature.
• Reform election finance laws.
• Amend the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to increase government transparency.
• Enact whistleblower legislation.
• Ensure proper respect for human rights, and enforcement of human rights legislation.
• Strengthen consumer protection legislation and support to protect Albertans from unfair market practices.
• Open up the process of appointments to government boards to reduce patronage.
• Work towards equal representation of women and
  men in the Legislative Assembly.
• Ensure that Alberta’s auditor general has powers at least equivalent to the federal auditor general.
• Strengthen the role of the Public Accounts Committee, to better identify and reduce government waste.
• Publicly release internal audit results within 24 months (the current government seals them for 15 years).
• Eliminate the Public Affairs Bureau and replace it with a non-partisan government communications service.

Big $$ out of politics

Political donations from big oil and other large corporations have a corrosive effect on democracy. Liberals and Conservatives, the primary recipients of those donations, put the needs of these donors ahead of the needs of ordinary families. Alberta’s NDP would put an end to political donations from unions and corporations.

Accountability

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will implement a computerized voting system in the Legislature to instantly tabulate and record votes into the Hansard. The media would be able to report each MLAís voting record.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will hold open Cabinet meetings, at least once a month, which will be broadcast live over the Internet and could be televised.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will give all government MLAs a meaningful new role in policy development and service planning through a new system of decision-making.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will give all MLAs and citizens a better voice in government through active Legislative committees.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support representative democracy. All MLAs will be free to express their constituentís views even when those views are contrary to the Alberta Alliance views.
  

Cabinet

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will reduce the size of the Provincial Cabinet to twelve members. Specifically; Premier, Agriculture, Attorney General, Economic Development, Education, Environment, Finance, Health, Inter-governmental Affairs, Municipal Affairs, Solicitor General and Transportation.

Commissions / Boards

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute elections for all provincial boards and commissions every four years to be held in conjunction with the provincial general elections.

Conflict of Interest

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute strict conflict of interest guidelines facilitated through the Provincial Ethics Commissionerís office.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will select an independent Ethics Commissioner via a multi-party committee. The commissioner will report directly to the Legislative Assembly.
  

Constitutional Reform

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support the popular ratification of all Constitutional Amendments by a simple majority vote in at least two-thirds of the provinces (including the Territories) representing at least 50% of the countryís population in a national referendum.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will agree with the terms of the Federal Clarity Act. That is any province seeking separation from Canada must first hold a referendum of the people of the province. The referendum question must be free of ambiguity and clear in the support it achieves for the result to be taken as the democratic will and expression of the will of the people to enter into negotiations that lead to secession.
  

Equality

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will recognize that all Canadians have equal rights, privileges and responsibilities.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will oppose the entrenchment by law of any recognizable group, as a ìDistinct or Unique Societyî with special privileges and exceptional rights not available to other Canadians. Equality of all citizens is the very essence of democracy and should not be compromised.
  

Federalism

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support respect and cooperation between the federal and provincial governments.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will defend Alberta against intrusions by the federal government by protecting the property, legal, constitutional and democratic rights of Albertans.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will work to thwart proposed or implemented federal legislation that contradicts Alberta Alliance principles.
  

Electoral Reform

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute fixed election dates for all elected officials in Alberta. MLAís will be elected to a four (4) year term. The Legislative Assembly will be able to call a vote of non-confidence at any time.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute a Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform to assess all possible models for electing MLAs, including preferential ballots, proportional representation and our current electoral system. If the assembly recommends changes to the current electoral system the proposed changes will be put to a province-wide referendum.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will set the maximum number of terms that a Premier can serve to two consecutive four-year terms.
  

Free Votes in Caucus and Legislature

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute free votes in the Legislative Assembly. MLAs will be encouraged to vote according to the dictates of their conscience or the expressed indications of their constituents.
• The Alberta Alliance Caucus has only free votes. The caucus position is determined by a simple majority vote of the caucus.
  

Freedom of Information

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute an open and comprehensive Freedom of Information Act.

Government Reform

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will establish an independent agency to determine the salaries and benefits of elected governmental officials and senior civil servants and to ensure that appointments to government tribunals, boards and senior civil service are conducted through an open, qualification-based process. The independent agency will also be able to dismiss appointees when just cause to do so exists.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will invite all Members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and Members of Parliament from Alberta to an annual conference to publicly identify and explore solutions to Albertaís concerns.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will ensure that MLA pension plans, transition allowances and severance packages are consistent with those in private industry.
  

Legislative Dates

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will establish set dates for Throne Speeches, Budget Announcements, Legislative Sessions and other important legislative occurrences.

Municipal Government

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support greater dialogue and cooperation between the province and municipalities.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support the assignment of government functions to that level of government most appropriate to the situation.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will follow any downloading of services from the province to municipalities with the appropriate amount of funding.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will increase the power of municipalities to make decisions affecting their jurisdictions and promote a greater delegation of municipal decision making to local communities.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will end the offloading of costs onto municipal governments.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will extend greater autonomy and better planning tools to local governments to reduce pressure on property taxes.
  

Patronage

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will restore professional, non-partisan public service by instituting Merit Employment Legislation that is based on merit and not political patronage.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute an impartial confirmation process for the appointment of senior bureaucrats, crown corporation heads and high level government appointees to ensure that the appointments are based upon qualifications and/or relevant experience.

Property Rights

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will entrench individual property rights within an Alberta Bill of Rights and a provincial constitution.

Provincial Constitution

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute a Provincial Constitution under which all people would be equal. The province would be bound by the provisions of the Provincial Constitution during any future Federal Constitutional negotiations.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will determine the content of the Provincial Constitution through a democratic process including a constituent assembly of elected participants. The proposed content would be brought to the people of Alberta in a referendum for ratification.
  

Referenda

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute legislation allowing the citizens of Alberta to call for a referendum or initiative on a matter of significant public concern upon the presentation of a petition signed by at least 5% of the total voting population of Alberta.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will call a referendum on any matter which it deems is of significant public concern.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will be bound by the outcome of a referendum that is called regarding a piece of pending legislation.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will only use Section 33 (the Notwithstanding Clause) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, with the consent of the Alberta people in a referendum.
  

Representative Democracy

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will be accountable to the people of Alberta by recognizing that Members of the Legislative Assembly are first and foremost responsible to their constituents.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will institute the right of recall of elected officials.
  

Senate Reform

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will advocate for a reformed Canadian Senate that has equal representation elected from each province and effective parliamentary powers. Through ìTriple-Eî Senate reform, the equality of all Canadians will be enhanced by ensuring that representation by population is balanced with the need for equal provincial representation.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will create serious consideration to the ìTriple Eî Senate reform proposal on a national level by holding a provincial referendum on Senate reform.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will recognize Alberta elected Senators to the Federal Senate. It need not recognize any federally appointed Senators.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will balance the representation between urban and rural centers in Alberta by instituting a Provincial Triple E Senate. Provincial Senators will be elected by the people from five equal electoral regions and have real effective powers.
  

Vote of Non Confidence

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will require the passing of a proclaimed vote of non-confidence to cause the defeat of the government. The defeat of any other bill will only cause the defeat of the bill; not the defeat of the government.

PROSPERITY AND ENERGY

Fuelling Alberta’s Future

Around the world, societies that flourish and prosper have two things in common: competitive taxes and great education systems. The Alberta Liberals will invest 30 per cent of royalties to keep our taxes competitive forever, and we will use part of that endowment to build up some of the finest educational institutions anywhere.

With an Alberta Liberal government, we won’t be left scratching our heads in a few years, wondering whatever happened to Alberta’s prosperity.

Alberta Liberal Action Plan for Prosperity and Energy

Invest 30 per cent of royalties to build permanent prosperity for Alberta’s future by:

• building the Heritage Fund into a massive, permanent income fund for Alberta, allowing permanently low taxes;
• eliminating the infrastructure debt by 2014;
• establishing an uncapped endowment fund for post-secondary education; and
• creating a $500 million endowment fund for the arts, social sciences and humanities.

Also:

• Ensure ethical standards for Heritage Fund investments.
• Unleash “the Western Tiger” by encouraging the building of bitumen upgraders in Alberta and elsewhere in Western Canada, to keep economic benefits on our side of the Canadian border.
• Re-regulate electricity, with a priority on residential, agricultural, and smaller commercial users, to restore access to efficient, reliable electricity, and to save Albertans a lot of money.
• Designate areas experiencing rapid growth as ‘Growth Plan Areas.’ Growth Plans will govern future development decisions in each area.
• Establish the Aboriginal Development Fund to provide no-interest loans for the development of Aboriginal-owned businesses.

Implement a fiscal and royalty regime designed to:

• provide a competitive and appropriate return to Albertans, the owners of the resources;
• ensure a thriving Alberta-based energy industry, with a competitive return for the businesses who take the risks;
• support the long-term sustainability of resource extraction;
• urgently address environmental issues; and
• deliver maximum value-added wealth generation in Alberta and Canada, within environmental, economic, and social constraints.

And:

• Total revenue collected in royalties will rise 20 per cent from what would be collected under today’s rules, with a re-balancing toward higher royalties from oilsands and more-manageable royalties from conventional gas.
• Enact the accountability recommendations of the Royalty Review Panel and the Auditor-General to ensure the Department of Energy meets standards.

Long Term Prosperity

• Adjusted the amount of royalties that the oil and gas sector will pay Albertans when oil and gas prices are high because Albertans own the resources
• Committed to increasing the bitumen (oilsands) to be upgraded in Alberta
• Adopted the recommendations of the Technology Commercialization Task Force
• Implemented the Ethane Extraction Policy to ensure more natural gas is processed into petrochemicals here in Alberta

Full value royalties

The Liberals’ and Conservatives’ royalty plans benefit big international oil companies, but they sell Albertans short by billions of dollars a year. Alberta’s NDP will follow the example set by Alaska and replace our bargain basement royalty system with a plan that benefits regular people, and delivers a full share for the resources they own.

Sustainability for Rural Alberta

A healthy Alberta economy for the long term needs to fire on all pistons. Alberta’s most sustainable sector is agriculture, if we tend to it carefully.

Alberta Liberal Action Plan for Agriculture and Rural Development

• Restore regional agriculture offices to create a “one-stop shop” for rural Albertans for information and consultative services on all provincial matters.
• Properly fund the Farmer’s Advocate office, and hire experts in oil and gas development to advise rural Albertans on their rights.
• Review the Surface Rights Act and Expropriation Act to strike a fair balance between landowner and industry interests in locating oil and gas wells and pipelines on privately owned land.
• Adequately fund the Surface Rights Board and the Land Expropriation Board.
• Work closely with farmers and industry to strengthen farm worker safety standards.
• Provide Workers’ Compensation Board programs for farm and ranch workers.
• Encourage vegetable and fruit production for local markets.
• Establish a provincial organic certification agency, and encourage and support the growing and marketing of organic products.
• Continue to support a strong and viable Canadian Wheat Board and ensure that farmers’ voices are heard in any changes being considered.

Rural Development

• As part of a $100 million plan, provided $18.2 million so far to 21 rural development projects that contribute to the growth and prosperity of rural Alberta–including initiatives such as medical internships in rural Alberta and stewardship of wildlife lands

Agriculture

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will recognize agriculture as one of Alberta’s most important industries and will strengthen the industry by always acting in the best interests of Alberta farmers.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support the family farm.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will work towards to a freer market driven system of agriculture.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support the elimination of all indirect taxes and tariffs on farm inputs.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will place a priority on reducing provincially controlled input costs for farmers and will call upon the federal government to do its part in reducing the costs of inputs.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support an end to freight rate discrimination.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support marketing programs for Alberta agricultural products, nationally and internationally.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support active ongoing research into environmental protection for agriculture such as holistic resource management.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will oppose international agriculture subsides as they are damaging and restrictive.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will recognize the practice of agriculture as a cornerstone of human civilization and will encourage environmentally sound, economically viable and humane agricultural practices.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will remove subsidies from unsuitable agricultural land and encourage its return to natural prairie, forest or wetland.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will encourage research and education to help farmers sustain the productive capability of the land.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will review all public land leases and their use.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will develop an effective and financially viable long-term agriculture safety-net program.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will encourage and pursue private sector value added opportunities for Alberta’s agriculture sector and will create an economic atmosphere in Alberta that encourages entrepreneurs to start value-added businesses in our province.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support Alberta producer market choice by extending the right to choose to sell grain independent of the Canadian Wheat Board or to sell through the Canadian Wheat Board voluntarily.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will review the current crop insurance program with producers.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will recognize that roads that are heavily used by those involved in the agriculture sector are as vital to Alberta’s economy as paved highways and will therefore ensure that the heavily used roads are included in the highway plans and road repair strategies.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will establish an agricultural mentoring and apprenticeship program that will match graduates of agricultural education programs with active farmers interested in mentoring new farmers.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will allow agriculture produces to choose an optional year end for CAIS program calculations to coincide with production cycles or tax accounting.
  

Assistance for Seniors

Alberta’s seniors have made so many contributions to our province. They deserve to feel respected and valued by their government.

Alberta Liberal Action Plan for Seniors

• Increase the number of dental procedures currently covered by the Dental Assistance for Seniors program.
• Inflation-proof the Alberta Seniors Benefit by indexing it to the Alberta Consumer Price Index.
• To help seniors keep their homes, establish a loan program for home repairs, with the loan to be repaid upon sale of the house.
• Establish an Independent Seniors’ Advocate.
• Give established seniors centres the funds to expand their services.
• Establish government-funded seniors centres to provide one-stop shopping for minor health needs, exercise programs, outreach to shut-ins, and other services.

Meeting the Needs of Business

With Alberta’s economy booming, small and medium-sized businesses are finding many opportunities to profit from rising incomes and strong demand. At the same time, the boom has brought very significant challenges.

Alberta Liberal Action Plan for Small Business

• Enact a Red Tape Review to aid small business, based on the B.C. model.
• Bring optional insurance (comprehensive and collision) and commercial vehicle insurance under the Automobile Insurance Rate Board.
• Re-regulate electricity (as mentioned earlier).
• Eliminate health care premiums (also as mentioned earlier).

Small Business

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will review all regulations affecting small business to ensure that they are equitable, supportive and serve the best interests of small business. Small business is the economic engine that drives the Alberta economy and provides a majority of the employment and job creation within the province.

The Other Alberta

While most Albertans enjoy a standard of living the envy of much of Canada, there is another Alberta where children grow up in poverty, even when their parents work full-time.

An Alberta Liberal government will take action to break the cycle of poverty.

Alberta Liberal Action Plan for Social Justice

• Review the housing component of Alberta Works social assistance to bring it in line with the current reality of the Alberta marketplace.
• Tear down the ‘welfare wall’ that deters people on social assistance from moving beyond poverty by allowing some benefits to remain with the recipient until they establish themselves in the workplace.
• Review and change the low cut-off rates for benefits, which discourage people from moving beyond low-income jobs.
• Develop a ‘living wage’ policy that is sufficient to allow workers to support their families, and maintain a healthy quality of life.
• Provide social investment to the non-profit sector to help them build capacity, maintain staff and provide adequate services.

Families

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support the family as the cornerstone of our society and protect and enhance the treasured family institution.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will oppose all acts of family violence particularly acts against children by establishing a child'­s defense agency which will protect children from reprehensible acts.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will implement educational activities to help the abused overcome the effects of abuse and to stop further abuse from abusers. Access to therapy will be provided where required.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will recognize and protect parental authority and responsibility. 
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will train more social workers to meet the critical skills shortage that presently exists.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will focus on early identification of at-risk children and institute measures aimed at preventing crisis situations before they arise.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will work with foster parents to help them improve the care and placements of foster children.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will enhance the training, resources and authority of front-line social workers to properly protect children at risk and improve services to families.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will earmark a significant portion of the revenues generated from gambling for the rehabilitation of gambling addicts and for educational programs aimed at reducing gambling.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will collaborate with non-profit societies and commit adequate funding for emergency residences to ensure that all children and victims of violence have a decent bed to sleep in and good food to eat.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will ensure people fleeing violent situations are provided with sufficient time and support including increased stays in transition houses to re-establish themselves and not face a future life of poverty.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will redistribute federal childcare funds received by the province directly to parents on a per child basis.
  

Immigration

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will seek to administer immigration in Alberta as is done in Quebec.

Multiculturalism

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will recognize that Alberta citizens are first and foremost Albertans with combined ethnic backgrounds that form a uniquely distinct Alberta culture. Responsibility for individual ethnic group maintenance rests solely with those who wish to support their heritage.

Responsibility

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support social responsibility within the framework of a free enterprise economic system and promote compassionate service, voluntarism, individual responsibility and care for those who are genuinely unable to care for themselves.

Welfare

• A Wildrose Alliance Government will support the right of individuals and families to be helped by society during times and cases when they are incapable of helping themselves.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will design the welfare system to assist individuals to realize their full potential and re-establish their self-esteem through active self-management and work experience.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will require employable persons receiving social assistance to upgrade their skills for the purposes of obtaining employment.
• A Wildrose Alliance Government will provide incentives for people to get off welfare and become employed by allowing welfare recipients to keep 100% of the wages they earn up to the "poverty line" as determined by Statistics Canada.