WATCH ABOVE: NDP leader Rachel Notley released the party’s 2015 election platform Sunday.
EDMONTON – Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley released the party’s 2015 election platform Sunday, in which she promised to reverse spending cuts to education and health care.
Notley said her party’s plan would balance the budget by 2017, just as the Progressive Conservatives and Wildrose have planned to do, but with different priorities than those of the opposing parties.
“All three major parties running in this election agree we should balance the budget in 2017,” Notley said. “And we all agree this needs to be achieved by changing something. Where we don’t agree is on what needs to change.”
READ MORE: Global exclusive host of 2015 Alberta election leaders’ debate
Notley said she would not introduce a sales tax, but would reintroduce a progressive income tax that would affect Albertans who earn more than $125,000.
Other points include banning corporate and union donations to political parties, creating 2,000 new long-term care beds over the next four years and increasing the corporate tax in Alberta to 12 per cent. Notley said she would also eliminate the PCs health levy.
The NDP said its framework rewards job creation by creating a tax credit that rebates 10 per cent of the wages paid to new hires, up to a total salary of $50,000.
“We can operate the government honestly and openly. We can protect health and education and make them better. We can help working and middle class families by getting rid of Jim Prentice’s health levy. We can preserve the Alberta advantage with no sales tax,” Notley said.
“And we can ask those who have profited so handsomely from our resources to contribute a little more, instead of cutting your family’s health care and education.”
For extensive coverage on the upcoming Alberta election, visit Global News’ Decision Alberta 2015 webpage.
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