There were no knock-out blows delivered in Alberta’s election debate on Thursday night.
United Conservative Leader Jason Kenney and NDP Leader Rachel Notley accused each other of failing fundamental tests of public trust. Kenney accused Notley of bungling the economy and surrendering to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, while Notley said Kenney is stoking “fear and division for political gain,” and is a cheat.
Alberta Election Fact Check: leaders issue plenty of jabs, but many weren’t totally true
Alberta Party Leader Stephen Mandel said both Notley and Kenney are failing people and his centrist party focuses on the economy and on social issues.
Alberta Liberal Leader David Khan pushed his economic plan, including eliminating provincial income tax for almost all Albertans while bringing in a sales tax to stabilize revenues.
Where the leaders were Friday on the Alberta election campaign trail
NDP Leader Rachel Notley
Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley says the United Conservatives are trying to pull a fast one on voters by slipping in changes to their policy platform.
It’s a charge Jason Kenney dismissed Friday, calling it more misdirection from a premier on a day when new Statistics Canada numbers revealed her job creation plan is falling flat.
The two leaders made the comments as they returned to the campaign trail following Thursday’s televised leaders debate.
Both have promised to erase Alberta’s chronic multibillion-dollar deficits in the next term if they win the April 16 election.
However, Notley pointed out that recent changes to the UCP’s online policy platform document show that Kenney plans to outsource that crucial task to a blue-ribbon panel of experts.
READ MORE: UCP unveils platform; Alberta Party talks eliminating carbon tax
“You don’t do a big event where you release your platform and tell people: ‘Here’s our plan. Hold us to account to it. Trust us.’ And then secretly change that platform in the dark of night,” Notley told supporters at a rally east of Edmonton.
“You cannot run to be the premier of this province without convincing people that you actually have a plan to bring the budget into balance.”
Last weekend, Kenney unveiled the party’s 100-plus page foundational policy document, which calls for the creation of a panel of experts to advise on fiscal policy and paying down the debt.
A revised online version of the document this week adds a new task to the panel:“recommend a path to (budget) balance.”
Notley called that misleading, given that the change wasn’t publicized, and also suggests the UCP hasn’t got a road map on a critical piece of policy.
Notley was also asked about the RCMP looking into the UCP leadership campaign.
She said it’s not appropriate for her party to ask the RCMP when the investigation will be done, but instead Jason Kenney should “come clean.”
“Instead of waiting for those independent offices to do their work and disclose their findings, Mr. Kenney should come clean… and he’s not doing that,” Notley said. “Albertans deserve to know what the real facts are from someone who believes he has a right to be their premier.”
United Conservative Leader Jason Kenney
UCP leader Jason Kenney said the change was one of a number of minor edits and fixes to the original document. He said nothing substantive has changed and that the budget balance plan is clearly spelled out in the platform.
He said the role of the panel remains an advisory one on how best to achieve that goal.
“Our fiscal target is $49 billion in spending and a $700-million surplus in year four. That is the plan,” he said in Calgary.
He said Notley will try any attack to deflect from her failure to get Albertans back to work after years of low oil prices and the loss of thousands of jobs.
Kenney noted new Statistics Canada numbers reveal Alberta lost 1,800 jobs last month, with the unemployment rate in Edmonton and Calgary over seven per cent.
Kenney says NDP tax hikes and added rules and regulations have made a bad situation worse.
“This is hard evidence of the jobs crisis that is hurting Albertans,” said Kenney. “This is not about oil prices. This is about bad government policy.
“This is on Rachel Notley.”
READ MORE: Alberta election promise tracker: Where do the parties stand on the major issues?
Notley said her government remains committed to boosting the economy with oil and gas diversification investment incentives along with other programs to attract work in specialized fields like high-tech.
“We are very concerned and we understand what (the unemployed) are going through,” she said.
“We know it’s not going fast enough. That’s why we continue to remain focused on this.”
Alberta Party Leader Stephen Mandel
Leader Stephen Mandel says an Alberta Party government would add 3,500 long-term care beds and bring in a program to help older Albertans stay in their homes longer.
Mandel says the pilot project would help seniors with snow shovelling, meal preparation, grocery delivery and lawn maintenance.
He says the pilot would be available in mid-sized cities such as Grande Prairie and Medicine Hat and would cost an estimated $1.7 million a year.
The extra long-term care beds would cost $260 million annually to operate in addition to an initial cost of $230 million to establish.
Mandel is also proposing a caregiver tax credit and better management of wait lists to keep couples together in seniors homes.
He says the province is unprepared as more and more families face the realities of aging parents and relatives.
No schedule was released for Khan.
— With files from Global News’ Karen Bartko and Emily Mertz