A Calgary lawyer has stepped forward and become the first candidate in the Alberta Party leadership race.
Kara Levis announced Monday morning at the legislature that she is running to fill the spot left vacant by Greg Clark, after he stepped down last month.
READ MORE: Greg Clark not seeking Alberta Party leadership
Levis is the co-founder of Ask Her, an organization that encourages women to get involved in politics. She told 630 CHED’s Ryan Jespersen there is still lots of work to do to level the playing field in Alberta.
“Historically, we’ve had less than 25 per cent of women in legislatures across this country, and other countries do it better than us. We can see more diverse voices across their legislatures.”
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WATCH: Ask Her Association encourages more women to enter politics
When it comes to policy, nothing has been set in stone. Levis is even open to talking about things like a PST.
“A few years ago we had a GST that is seven per cent, and we are now at a five per cent GST, and I think we’ve seen that the economy can sustain something along those lines, so that would be part of the conversation.”
READ MORE: Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci says provincial sales tax is ‘not on’
What Levis is firm on is that something needs to be done to get the province’s books back to the black.
“Right now I think we’ve got the blinders on, that we can just continue doing what we’ve always been doing, but spend more money and expect that it’s going to come back to balance magically.”
The vote for leader happens on Feb. 27.
Listen below: Kara Levis live on the Ryan Jespersen Show