Promise Tracker
The promises. They're the hallmark of election campaigns, and by which a government is both chosen and judged.
We'll track them here to help you decide who to vote for.
HEALTH CARE
- Phase out health-care premiums within four years.
- Create new physician training spaces over next four years to qualify additional 225 doctors per year.
- Increase number of annual registered nurse graduates from 1,650 to 2,000 by 2012.
- Increase number of licensed practical nurse graduates from 780 to 1,000 by 2012.
- Recruit qualified foreign-trained health-care workers.
- Immediately end health-care premiums.
- Construct new hospitals in Calgary and Grande Prairie and open more beds in Edmonton and rural centres.
- $650 million to renovate and expand the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton.
- Build a new cancer centre in Calgary.
- Re-develop Medicine Hat Regional Hospital.
- Implement a public pharmacare program for prescription drugs.
- Train enough nurses, doctors and other health professionals to meet Alberta's need.
- Create specialized surgical centres.
- Publicly fund midwifery services.
- Implement province-wide community health centre model.
- Establish a community wellness fund of approximately $200 million using taxes from tobacco sales.
- Elect regional health authority boards.
- Fund creation and operation of an independent advocacy centre for dependent adults.
- Immediately end health-care premiums.
- Create a new pharmaceutical agency to purchase drugs in bulk, negotiate prices with drug companies and find less costly options to brand-name drugs.
- End health-care premiums in first 30 days in office.
- Implement a pilot project in a smaller health region modeled after funding that follows patients rather than the current per-capita funding.
- Give health regions more control over where money is spent.
- Provide significant debt relief to medical professionals who train in Alberta and commit to practicing in the province for a period of at least five years.
- Establish and fund an independent Health Ombudsman to resolve complaints.
- Develop a Medical Machinery and Equipment Plan to ensure existing medical equipment is adequately staffed.
ECONOMY
- Increase level at which families are eligible for Family Employment Tax Credit.
- Committed to increasing the bitumen to be upgraded in Alberta.
- $100 million for rural development projects.
- $6 billion a year to build, maintain and repair schools, hospitals, highways, urban transit, universities, colleges, parks and senior care facilities.
- Introduce a 10% Scientific Research and Experimental Development tax credit.
- Create an enterprise fund to attract private and institutional venture capital funds.
- Establish a Premier's Economic Strategy Council to provide advice on strategy for science, technology and innovation.
- Invest 30 per cent of royalties in a resource revenue saving plan.
- Build the Heritage Fund into a permanent income fund for Alberta and use that to lower taxes.
- Eliminate infrastructure debt by 2014.
- Re-regulate electricity with a priority on residential, agricultural and smaller commercial users.
- Encourage building of bitumen upgraders.
- Establish aboriginal development fund to provide no-interest loans for the development of aboriginal-owned businesses.
- Restore regional agriculture offices.
- Mandate basic value-added and upgrading for all bitumen mined in Alberta to be done in the province.
- Add an interim per barrel tax on all bitumen exported outside the province.
- Establish a bitumen pricing system.
- Raise personal tax exemption to $20,000.
- Reduce corporate taxes from 10 per cent to eight per cent.
- Allow income-splitting for Albertans who care for dependent family members.
ENVIRONMENT
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 200 megatons by 2050.
- Tax credit or rebate to homeowners and small businesses who renovate to utilize renewable energy sources or who replace appliances with energy efficient models.
- Mandate efficiency standards in new home and commercial building codes.
- Create the River Valley Alliance Park featuring 88 kilometres of park along the North Saskatchewan River valley from Devon to Fort Saskatchewan.
- Establish a provincial park along the Bow River Valley.
- Establish cap on greenhouse gas emissions from all sources within five years.
- Redirect the $250-million natural gas rebate program towards energy efficiency and conservation.
- Implement financial and economic incentives to develop carbon-capture and storage technology.
- Require mandatory watershed management planning for all major river basins.
- Minimize land area affected by coalbed methane development.
- Establish a provincial land use strategy.
- Halt sell-off of public lands and private hunting.
- Increase amount of protected park space, starting with the establishment of the Andy Russell-I'tai sah kop Park.
- $100 million towards the implementation of the Capital Region River Valley Park.
- Create a green energy fund that will receive $2 billion a year primarily through enhanced royalties. Use that money to fund energy efficient retro-fitting and alternative energy production systems for individual houses and building.
- Fund alternative power generation projects such as solar and wind farms.
- Place hard caps on greenhouse gas emissions with penalties for companies that exceed targets -- details to be worked out later.
- Slow down the pace of development, though no explanation of what 'slow' means. Previously, the NDP had called for a full moratorium on new oilsands development.
- Institute a Clean Drinking Water Act with province-wide standards, monitoring and enforcement.
- Impose strict regulations on all effluent producing industries and ensure that the cost of water treatment and purification are borne by the polluter.
- Actively oppose the implementation of the Kyoto Accord.
- Establish an environmental ombudsman.
ROYALTIES
- Increase revenue from oil and gas by 20 per cent (about $2 billion).
- Add a new tax on bitumen production.
- Keep royalties at one per cent until project costs are recovered, then raise royalties on net profits to 33 per cent.
- Introduce a new royalty that would rise with higher oil prices and higher royalties on high-producing oil and gas wells.
- Increase revenue from royalties by 20 per cent.
- Implement royalty regime designed to provide competitive and appropriate return to Albertans and for the businesses who take risks.
- Follow example set by Alaska and replace the royalty system.
- Create an all-party, special committee of the legislature to investigate royalties and report back in three months.
- Add a variable royalty structure that would increase the royalty revenues when oil prices pass a peak threshold.
- Increase royalties on other non-renewable resources such as coal.
- Implement an equitable royalty framework to ensure outside investment in Alberta.
EDUCATION
- Begin construction of 18 new schools in Calgary and Edmonton.
- Locate Alberta's health high schools in Calgary and Edmonton.
- Limit annual tuition increases to rate of inflation.
- Lower student loan interest rate to prime.
- Improve affordability of graduate student programs.
- Create post-secondary endowment fund.
- Lower post-secondary tuition by $1,000 per year.
- $300 per year grant to help with the costs of tools and texts.
- Create new learning spaces for areas with high numbers of applicants.
- Lower or eliminate property taxes on student housing to lower costs.
- Improve student-faculty ratios.
- $100 million to hire more faculty.
- Restore legislature control over tuition increases.
- Reduce interest rates on Alberta student loans.
- Double funding to the Alberta opportunities bursary.
- Establish Mount Royal University in Calgary.
- Provide public funding for the P3 schools announced by PC government in 2007.
- Introduce a school nutrition program to feed at-risk children.
- Phase in full day junior and regular kindergarten.
- Eliminate school fees and parent fundraising for kindergarten to Grade12.
- Enact a three-year moratorium on school closures.
- Roll back tuition levels to 1999-2000 levels.
- Cap interest for student loans at prime.
- Invest $100 million in student housing immediately.
- Eliminate fees and fundraising for learning essentials.
- Phase out funding for private schools.
- Implement a pilot project where funding follows the student.
- Fully fund arts,music and physical education curriculums in public schools.
- Institute an educational scholarship form of financing for all Albertans seeking post-secondary education.
- Double the annual number of graduates in computer science and electrical and computer engineering within five years.
- Provide forgiveable student loans to Albertan students if they teach for ten years in underserved communities.
- Restore education as an essential service so there can be no strikes or lockouts.
- Expand second chance schools for disruptive and violent youth.
ELECTORAL REFORM
- Nothing about electoral reform released yet by party.
- Establish fixed election dates.
- Create a citizen's assembly on electoral reform to study other voting systems.
- Reform election finance laws.
- Enact whistleblower legislation.
- Eliminate Public Affairs Bureau and replace with a non-partisan government communications service.
- End campaign contributions from unions and corporations.
- Table legislation binding all leadership and nomination contests to the same disclosure rules and donation limits of political parties.
- Introduce recall of MLAs.
- Establish fixed election dates.
- Allow citizen initiatives via referendums.
- Create mandated annual independent audits of government.
- Reduce cabinet to 12 members.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
- Create a secretariat for action on homelessness.
- Implement an affordable housing Strategy, including a temporary cap of 10 per cent on rent increases, a limit of one rent increase per year, and a moratorium on condo conversions.
- Provide the chronically homeless with stable housing options.
- Provide low or no interest loans to qualifying low income earners to cover the cost of the security deposit and one month's rent.
- Extend financial assistance to moderate income earners who wish to buy their own homes.
- Introduce rent controls.
- Introduce limits on condominium conversions.
- Eliminate homelessness in Alberta within first term of office.
- Allocate publicly owned land for affordable housing where appropriate.
ARTS & CULTURE
- Implement a new $12-million cultural policy called Spirit of Alberta that redefines culture to include recreation and sport as well as performance and art.
- Build a new $40 million Science Museum in Calgary.
- Double funding for Alberta Foundation for the Arts now, and then triple within three years.
- Create an Alberta film and television tax credit.
- Launch an Alberta Arts Festival
- Pilot an Alberta publishers fund
- Introduce $30 million in new funding for the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.
- Fund community projects and school programs such as music, art, theatre, dance, sculpture, reading, writing and other arts and cultural activities
CRIME
- A minimum of 100 additional police officers per year, as well as more prosecutors and provincial judges.
- Implement Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act to expand powers of municipalities to deal with crime.
- Increase access to treatment for drug addictions and mental health services.
- Increase police funding formula by 25 per cent for Edmonton and Calgary
- Hire at least 113 new police officers each year
- Hire 800 additional police officers.
- Establish an Alberta police force.
- Challenge all federal firearms control legislation and hold a referendum on the use of the notwithstanding clause as it relates to firearms ownership if needed.
- Return 75% of all traffic fine revenue to municipalities to improve community policing and crime prevention.
- Institute a program whereby juvenile offenders could be sentenced to boot camps featuring physical labour and education.
- Establish a child defence agency to protect children.
CHILD CARE
- Support creation of 14,000 new child care spaces over next three years.
- Increase start-up funding and operational funding for child care centres.
- Boost wage enhancements to help child care centres recruit and retain staff.
- Create 4,000 new child care spaces.
- Cap rates of $25/day ($500/month) for infant care and $9/day ($180/month) for after school care.
- Regulate after-school care for children.
- Increase start-up grants for daycare centres and day homes.
- Provide additional sustainable grants to day cares to increase wages for childcare workers.
- Redistribute federal childcare funds received by the province directly to parents on a per child basis.
VARIOUS
- Maintain education portion of seniors' property taxes at 2004 levels for next five years.
- Help families caring for dependent members by more than doubling the tax credit from $4,355 to $9,355 for caregiver, infirm dependent and disability supplements and boosting the disability amount from $7,466 to $12,466.
- Increase the amount a person being cared for can earn from $19,229 to $24,229, and infirm dependent credits from $10,535 to $15,535, so that more families can receive assistance.
- Increase amount of money AISH recipients can earn before it affects their living allowance.
- $130 million to Edmonton to build the 23rd Avenue interchange and $800 million to build Calgary Ring Road.
- Tie the Alberta seniors benefit to the Consumer Price Index.
- Establish a loan program for home repairs for seniors.
- Establish government-funded seniors centres.
- Create an independent Seniors Advocate.
- Double provincial funding for Native Friendship Centres.
- Establish urban aboriginal health centres.
- Reinstate a government ministry devoted strictly to Aboriginal Affairs.
- Index AISH benefits to Statistics Canada's average weekly earnings report for Alberta.
- Increase the number of dental procedures currently covered by the Dental Assistance for Seniors program.
- Start a public automobile insurance system.
- Introduce province-wide measurable and enforceable standards for care, including best practices for nursing ratios and resident complaint mechanisms.
- Legislate standard qualifications for health-care aides who provide most of the day-to-day personal and nursing care to residents.
- Stop the conversion of long-term care facilities to assisted living facilities.
- Establish community-based teams of mental health professionals to offer quick response to patient crises.
- Introduce unannounced seniors facility inspections and publicly post results.
- Provide stable funding for non-profit First Nation and Metis agencies.
- Tie AISH and social assistance rates to a Market Basket Measure.
- Create an Alberta pension plan.
- Provide unconditional municipal funding.
- Offer to negotiate a delegated municipal style of self-government with any First Nation that wants to.
- Seek to administer immigration in Alberta as is done in Quebec.
PRICE TAG
- Total commitments represent 4.2 per cent of the budget for 2008-09 or $1.5 billion.
- Net costs are zero as a result of re-allocating existing dollars and increased royalty revenues.
- $477 million surplus, based on increased royalty rates, bitumen royalty premium and reverse corporate tax cuts.
- Cost of promises to be released soon.
Editorial Note:
In accordance with CBC's editorial policy, CBC carries the profiles of political leaders whose parties held a seat in the Alberta legislature at the time of dissolution.
For information on other political parties fielding candidates in this provincial
election, please visit the links below:
Alberta Greens
Alberta Party
Alberta Social Credit Party
Communist Party of Alberta
Separation Party of Alberta
