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Friday, February 01, 2008

it's time.

Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft launched his party's election campaign by releasing their platform and plan for the future at last night's Alternate Speech from the Throne (which doubled as a campaign rally). I'll take some time later this afternoon to write a more in depth post the platform and the energy at the rally, but until then you can check out the Alberta Liberal plan "It's Time" for yourself.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

hell yeah IT's TIME!

Let's kick this buggers out!

Anonymous said...

I think most people would rather it be VADER TIME frankly.

Anonymous said...

Have reviewed the Alberta Liberal Plan and find no no estimate of what this is going to cost.

How much bigger is the Provincial budget going to be to pay for these promises?

The Liberal leader promised this week to share Alberta's wealth with the rest of the country; how much of our tax/royalty money will that be?

There is a lot of reference to taking royalty monies to pay for what ALP says can be done. Does that mean the royalty regime will be hiked? If so, how many jobs are going to be lost?

An "active partnership with the energy industry"; how much in taxpayer dollars will be directed to this?

A lot of what is said regarding Coalbed Methane is already enshrined in legislation and ERCB regulation; what will be new?

What is a "Western Tiger" but Alberta as it is today? We have a number of upgraders already planned or being built. And why is it that we would export jobs to other areas of Western Canada and not want them here? Is the ALP looking to put up funding to duplicate upgraders and thousands of miles of pipelines to send Alberta bitumen to other provinces?

How much will our income taxes rise to supplement higher royalties on production volumes that will shrink as investment in conventional oil and gas exploration and development disappears (it already has under the more modest increases announced by the sitting government)?

I whole-heartedly agree with training more health care professionals; where are the instructors going to come from? There is already a world wide shortage of instructors and healthcare professionals, so we will have to poach them from somewhere; what is the premium the ALP is prepared to pay for getting them here?

Sorry, it looks like its more 'tax and spend' and has little source but lots of application of funds. . .

calgarygrit said...

Oh c'mon anon - get real.

The PCs brought forward one of the biggest spending increases in Canadian history in their budget last year - the Libs won't do any worse and have had their financial plans (which focus on saving in the Heritage Trust Fund) endorsed by pinkos like the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

And you know as well as anyone that the ALP wouldn't raise income taxes if they got in for the same reason Harper is never going to bring in abortion legislation even if he wants to - it'd be political suicide.

Anonymous said...

And you make the assumption that I am a PC supporter because. . .?

The voters in this Province have to realize that they continually get bribed with "their own" money. We've seen both parties confirm that they want to reach into our pockets and those of business much deeper than they already have.

Think!

All of these programs are going to cost. And what existing programs will be sacrificed? Or will the budget continue to swell? Of course, there is that legislation that a government cannot run a deficit, so that means revenues have to rise. . .

concerned said...

Anonymous,
We are talking about a democratic election - not the end of the world. What is wrong with you people! A change in government every now and then is healthy for all involved in the process. The talk about Alberta being an oligarchy or the 'energy colony' of the us is really starting to sound valid. Also if the province cannot even provide basic needs for its poor and lowest paid workers- who will be willing to stay here and fill the so called 'labour shortage'?