One year ago this week Albertans voted for significant change. After 44 years of Progressive Conservative rule, the Rachel Notley-led NDP swept into power. The party campaigned on higher taxes for corporations and the top wage earners in the province, and restoring funding to health care and education.
The party’s first 12 months in government has been spent putting these measures into place, but doing so while attempting to manage an economy devastated by the low price of oil.
Here are five moments that help define the NDP’s first year in power.
Cabinet equity
Three weeks after the election, thousands of Albertans crowded to the front steps of the legislature to watch Premier-designate Rachel Notley officially be sworn in, along with eleven cabinet ministers. Notley had said during the campaign that gender equity in cabinet would be a key priority, and she made it her first act.
READ MORE: Who is in Alberta Premier Rachel Notley’s cabinet?
Watch below: Rachel Notley and cabinet were sworn in on May 24, 2015
Climate leadership plan
With world leaders set to meet in Paris to discuss climate change in late 2015, the NDP government quickly launched a climate change review panel to put together a plan the province could present at the conference. Notley had long said Alberta was losing market share for the province’s oil due to a lack of a clear plan to deal with the industry’s environmental impact. Surrounded by both industry and environmental group leaders, the premier put forward a plan calling for an economy-wide carbon tax in late November.
READ MORE: Reaction to Alberta’s ‘ambitious’ climate change plan
Watch below: NDP begins to sell climate change plan to Albertans. Tom Vernon reports Nov. 23, 2015
Bill 6
Legislation the NDP thought would pass without much opposition turned into the focal point of rural anger towards the government. Bill 6 removed Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB) and Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) exemptions on Alberta farms. The bill passed with amendments in early December, but not before thousands of Albertans staged protests across the province.
READ MORE: ‘Rachel Notley has to go’ – Hundreds rally outside Alberta Legislature
Watch below: Tom Vernon reports from the legislature, where hundreds of Alberta farmers protested Bill 6 on Nov. 27, 2015
Royalty structure
It’s a question that has been asked for decades: are Albertans receiving their fair share of oil and gas revenues? In the fall, the NDP launched a royalty review panel lead by ATB boss Dave Mowat to find out. Critics blasted the government for launching the review during a recession, claiming the uncertainty was driving away investment. In the end, the panel found the rates are right, but the system needs to be streamlined.
Watch below: Alberta releases anticipated royalty review on Jan. 29, 2016.
Big debt
There is no doubt the greatest challenge facing the NDP government is the multibillion-dollar hole in the budget created by low world oil prices. Resource revenues are down 90 per cent from just two years ago, and no one is forecasting oil to return to the $100 per barrel level any time soon. When tabling his budget, Finance Minister Joe Ceci said that means the budget won’t be balanced until 2024.
READ MORE: Alberta budget 2016
Watch below: Tom Vernon explains that the government is taking on so much new debt it’s going to have to change a law passed just a few months ago. (April 14, 2016).
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