Alberta election: What promises has the Alberta Party made?

Albertans are heading to the polls for a spring election on Tuesday, April 16.

As a way of helping you make an informed decision on election night, Global News is keeping track of all the promises made by the main parties vying for your vote.

Here is a closer look at the promises made by the Alberta Party:

Health care

• March 7: Mandatory vaccinations for school children
• March 20: Vouchers, tax credits to help families with kids in daycare or after-school care
• March 22: Provide annual dental checkups for children 12 and under
• March 22: Work with municipalities to add fluoride to their water
• March 24: Replace paper health cards with digital identification
• April 5: Add 3,500 long-term care beds and bring in program to help older Albertans stay in their homes longer
• April 8: Immediately declare a public health emergency due to opioid crisis; increase funding for response by 50 per cent (from $45 million to $68 million)
• April 12: Complete Edmonton South Hospital, Grande Prairie Regional Hospital, Calgary Cancer Centre and Red Deer hospital expansion
• April 12: Build more non-acute care beds outside hospitals and improve home-care options
• April 12: Save $200M by halting the NDP’s plan to buy laundry machines for AHS
• April 12: Review NDP’s plan for medical superlab in Edmonton with “the aim to cancel it”

To see where the parties stand on health care, click here.

Education

• March 21: $230 million to double the number of educational assistants in school, create agency to test students with possible learning challenges
• April 9: Create 45,000 new post-secondary spaces by 2024
• April 9: Retain the current cap on tuition at Alberta post-secondary institutions
• April 9: Eliminate tuition fees for high school upgrading and English language learning programs
• April 9: Expand the STEP program to run year-round
• April 11: Create 60,000 new spaces for K-12 students over the next four years
• April 11: $190 million to create 15,000 student spaces each year and build or modernize 25 schools per year
• April 11: Support GSAs with $690 million in annual funding for inclusive education
• April 11: Support current curriculum review
• April 11: Maintain current funding programs for private and charter schools

To see where the parties stand on education, click here.

Infrastructure

• March 28: Add a lane on the QEII between Calgary and Edmonton, creating the first corridor for self-driving vehicles in Canada
• March 29: Amend the Alberta Building Code to allow for tall wood buildings and mandate that all municipalities allow for their construction, and encourage advanced wood products be used more often in provincially-funded projects like schools and municipal buildings
• March 29: Create Alberta Forestry Technology and Research Institute (AFTRI) with $50 million in funding from Alberta Innovates. The AFTRI’s mandate would be to perform research and provide seed funding to industry-led projects
• April 2: Work with private industry to build a $15-million railway and pipeline corridor between Fort McMurray and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System at Delta Junction, where it would take oil to the Port of Valdez

To see where the parties stand on infrastructure, click here.

Spending, taxes and the economy

• March 26: Reduce Alberta’s general corporate tax from 12 per cent to 10 per cent
• March 26: Double Alberta Small Business Deduction from $500,000 to $1,000,000
• March 26: Establish a Business Certainty Guarantee on day one of taking office. Under the guarantee, the party said businesses and investors can have confidence that the overall costs of doing business in Alberta will either stay the same or go down during the four-year term of an Alberta Party government
• March 26: Leave minimum wage at $15
• March 27: Increase funding to Alberta Innovates by over $300 million
• March 27: Help support Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the North West Redwater Sturgeon Refinery
• March 29: Amend the Alberta Building Code to allow for tall wood buildings and mandate that all municipalities allow for their construction, and encourage advanced wood products be used more often in provincially-funded projects like schools and municipal buildings
• March 29: Create Alberta Forestry Technology and Research Institute (AFTRI) with $50 million in funding from Alberta Innovates. The AFTRI’s mandate would be to perform research and provide seed funding to industry-led projects
• April 1: Push Ottawa to revisit equalization payment structure

To see where the parties stand on spending, taxes and the economy, click here.

Carbon tax

• Cancel the NDP carbon tax for families, small business, farms, non-profit organizations and municipal governments
• Require large industrial emitters to reduce their emissions under “properly-structured carbon price”

To see where the parties stand on the carbon tax click here.

Agriculture

• Grow agriculture industry by $1 billion, and create 6,000 new jobs
• Establish Alberta Agriculture Innovation Fund with $1M in annual funding
• $2 million to support an agri-tourism development fund
• $2 million to create office of certification support to assist Alberta farmers and ranchers in obtaining “value-add certifications”
• Appoint “Bee Protection Task Force” to provide recommendations to government on how to support health and productive bee populations in Alberta
• Review the Agriculture Financial Services Corporation
• Make “a measured update” to Bill 6, Alberta’s Farm and Ranch Workplace Legislation

Crime

• Expand role of Alberta Sheriffs
• $10 million to lift prosecutor wage freeze for prosecutors outside of Edmonton and Calgary, and hire 25 additional crown prosecutors
• Increase Legal Aid funding by $140 million over the next four years
• $5 million for provincial victim services unit
• Expedite development of Provincial Hate Crimes Unit
• Expedite review of Police Act

Promises will be tracked throughout the election campaign, so be sure to check back here for an updated party platform.