The Alberta Liberals are off and running for a provincial election that hasn't been called yet, with promises to eliminate health-care premiums, lower electricity rates and cap greenhouse gas emissions within five years.
Liberal Leader Kevin Taft announced the party's platform for the campaign — expected to start early next week — before 200 people at a University of Alberta lecture hall Thursday night.
Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft on Thursday unveiled the party's platform for the coming election.
(CBC)
Taft described the coming battle as "David versus Goliath" because Liberals hold only 16 seats in the legislature, compared to 60 for the governing Conservatives. But he said people are ready for change after 36 years of Tory rule in Alberta.
"Time for change is just so pronounced among the people I think once the dam begins to break, anything can happen in this campaign," he said.
Taft acknowledged it won't be easy. "The Tories will wage an air war. They've got millions of dollars and they will bombard people with advertising and television," he said. "We'll wage a ground war. We've been preparing for that. We know where we'll go, why we'll be there and what we'll do."
There is reason for the party's optimism, said Debbie Cavaliere, Liberal candidate for Edmonton-Meadowlark, who was at the event.
"I just don't see that anything will ever change with the Tory government. They've been in power for years. Yes, they have a new leader. I don't really believe they can change from within," she said.
Other priorities in the Liberal platform include:
- Train more nurses, doctors and health-care professionals.
- Reduce hospital waiting times.
- Bring in a pharmacare program.
- Provide homeowners and businesses with $250 million for energy-efficient retrofits.
- Eliminate school fees.
- Reinvest 30 per cent of energy royalties in the Alberta Heritage Trust Fund and infrastructure programs.
- Put a temporary cap on rent increases at 10 per cent per year.
- Put a moratorium on condominium conversions.
The Liberals have nominated 79 candidates and expect to have a full slate of 83 before the election is called, Alberta Liberal Party executive director Kieran Leblanc said Friday.
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Alberta Votes 2008 »
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More Alberta Votes Headlines »
- It's 'Ed's Empire' after Alberta election sweep
- Political observers in Alberta are calling it remarkable and opposition politicians are wondering what hit them after Ed Stelmach guided his Conservative party Monday to one of its biggest majorities ever.
- Low voter turnout in Alberta election being questioned
- As Premier Ed Stelmach and Alberta Conservatives savour their sweeping election victory, some people are raising a nagging concern: why so few people bothered to vote.
- Albertans elect historic 11th straight Tory government
- Voters in Alberta stuck with tried-and-true blue, giving the Progressive Conservative party an unprecedented 11th consecutive majority government in Monday's provincial election.
- Political tide turns in Edmonton
- Alberta Progressive Conservative Leader Ed Stelmach has proven true to his word, putting the "Ed" back in Edmonton.
- Conservatives' Calgary fortress resists change
- The Progressive Conservatives' fortress in Calgary stood strong as the party took 18 of the city's 23 ridings Monday night.
