Leading up to the Alberta provincial election, AIR 106.1 FM and Discover Airdrie have asked candidates in the ridings of Airdrie-East and Airdrie-Cochrane, a series of questions about topics impacting our ridings.

Each weekday leading up to April 16th we will be posting their written responses to our AIR 106.1 Candidate Question of the Day.

The order in which the candidate's responses appear has been chosen at random and will rotate each day. The first answers are for Airdrie-East candidates, the second batch are the Airdrie-Cochrane candidates.

A link will be provided with each response taking you back to the party’s website for more information on their platforms and policies.

The final AIR 106.1 Candidate Question of the Day for Monday April 15th, 2019 is as follows:

The biggest issues we've heard about during this election are jobs and the economy. What's your plan to put Albertans back to work?

 

Airdrie East

Roxie Baez Zamora – NDP

“Getting pipelines built to move our product to markets and supporting economic diversification through our Made in Alberta plan will get our economy moving and create 70,000 jobs. We will also maintain Alberta’s tax advantage as the lowest in Canada to ensure we are the best place to invest and operate a business. This will continue to be a top priority for our party and we will always fight to ensure Albertans are working and succeeding.”

https://rachelnotley.ca/platform

 

Richard Herdman – Independent

“Making the world a better place is the problem Gibson Bill private members bill will create an immediate legal process during tenant eviction for 50,000 disabled Albertans receiving Assured Income For Severely Handicapped who now on eviction kill themselves where a new suite is located by legal order to the City Council. This costs nothing saves lives improves the community”

 

Alex Luterbach – Alberta Party

“We would do this in three ways, reduce taxes so that Alberta was again the most competitive market in Canada, ensure that our oil and gas industry was well supported, and invest in diversifying our economy. We will roll back the carbon tax on everyone other than heavy emitters, and roll back the corporate tax to 10%. A successful economy cannot be built without supporting our small businesses, so we will double the amount of tax deductions allowed. Our city has a vibrant small business community, that I am proud to say that I am a part of. I am hopeful that this measure will help to stop more Airdrie businesses from shutting their doors.

We would look to take control of our oil and gas industry by expanding our refining and petrochemical processing capabilities, and by looking for transport solutions that do not depend on British Columbia. This would include securing an Alberta to Alaska railway and pipeline corridor. Lastly, we would invest in sectors such as television and film, forestry and tech to help stabilize our economy. An Alberta Party government would have a Business Certainty Guarantee that commits to keeping costs the same, or reducing them over the next four years.”

https://www.albertaparty.ca/position_statements

 

Angela Pitt – United Conservative Party

“1. Repeal the carbon tax act. Allow families and job creators to keep more of their own money

2. Job creation tax cut. Reduce tax burden on employers from 12%-8% creating jobs and growing the economy

3. Bill 2: The open Alberta for business act. Give Alberta workers more freedom, restore their rights to a secret ballot and bring balance back to Alberta’s labour laws to get job creators investing in Alberta again

4. The Red tape reduction action plan. Cut red tape by one third to reduce costs and speed up approvals, freeing job creators to get more Albertans back to work

5. The Farm freedom and safety act. Repeal and replace bill 6. We will actually listen to farmers and ranchers and workers that the NDP ignored and let our farmers grow again.

6. Build public infrastructure. Support services like healthcare and education

7. Energy Policy. Re-energize oil and gas by speeding up approvals, cutting red tape, unblocking natural gas shipments and supporting LNG exports.”

https://www.albertastrongandfree.ca/policy/

 

Rick Northey – Freedom Conservative Party

“The sad fact is the economic impact of new pipelines will not be felt for months or years. The fastest way to kick start the economy is to reduce taxes and regulation. The FCP will reduce the corporate tax rate and eliminate the tax on small business. We also recommend having a discussion between employers and potential workers on a sensible minimum wage that allows for maximum sustainable employment.”

https://www.freedomconservativeparty.ca/platform

 

Jeff Olson – Alberta Independence Party

“With smaller govt and less red tape this would allow us as Albertans and companies to invest in ourselves. We would lower corporate tax to 8.5% for Alberta businesses and 9% for foreign business, this would attract more businesses to set up shop in Alberta. AIP is the only platform that will reduce debt, balance budget, put Albertans back to work and all without building another pipeline.”

https://albertaindependence.ca/what-we-believe/

 

 

 

Airdrie-Cochrane

Steve Durrell - NDP

“We need to get the pipeline built and we need to keep diversifying the economy. Alberta is a great place to live, work and do business, that's why even at the worst of the recession, our population grew.

Rachel has grown Alberta's tax advantage, meaning Albertans pay $11.2 Billion less in tax than the next lowest province. We have no sales tax, no payroll tax, and no health premiums and we will keep it that way.”

https://rachelnotley.ca/platform

 

Vern Raincock – Alberta Party

“An Alberta Party government will establish the Business Certainty Guarantee on day one of taking office. Under this Guarantee, 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 the government. An Alberta Party government will enact the Jobs First plan to attract investment and create jobs for Alberta families. The plan is expected to expand the provincial economy by $16 billion and foster the creation of 65,000 jobs. We need to restore Alberta as a place of opportunity. We will encourage head offices to move to Alberta. We also need to identify which industries can hit the ground running in 2019 and encourage them to do so.

The capital cost allowance in Alberta will be adjusted to 100% for all new investment. This will supercharge private investment.

Rather than be forced to depreciate capital assets over antiquated time scales of between one and 25 years, Alberta’s tax system will enable investors to accelerate the depreciation of capital investments on an immediate (100%) basis.This change will make investing in Alberta extremely attractive, because investors will be able to get returns on their investments more quickly than under the old scheme. This will, in turn, stimulate substantial job growth in the province.

The Alberta general corporate tax rate will be reduced from 12% to 10%. The Alberta Small Business Deduction will be doubled from $500,000 to $1,000,000. All other aspects of the Small Business Deduction will remain the same, including the existing small business tax rate of 2%.As of December 2018, there were 167,443 small business in Alberta, comprising 96% of all businesses with employees.

In 2017, small businesses in Alberta made up 28% of the province’s economy and 36% of all private sector employment (excluding public administration, health and education sectors).”

https://www.albertaparty.ca/position_statements

 

Peter Guthrie – United Conservative Party

“Putting Alberta back to work is the main focus of the UCP platform. Our entire plan is to get our economy back on track. The platform is 118 pages of detailed policies which will turn around the province. Our plan does not involve government intervention but begins by recognizing Albertans are the ones who will turn this around as long as government gets out of the way. Albertans have long demonstrated their resilience in tough times providing the government is not hounding, taxing and generally making life difficult for them like the NDP has over the past four years. Our plan is built to give each individual Albertan the tools to bring our province back from the brink. Our economic recovery plan has been built to bring life back to our province. To bring jobs back to our communities. We will do this through the Job Creation Tax Cut Act, an act to cut the corporate tax rate to 8% to encourage small business to grow as fast as they can to a corporate level without worrying about a massive tax jump if they do so. We will cut regulatory red tape to ensure business can grow without the government stalling it. This will especially help our energy industry move quicker to drill and grow and bring investment back to the oil fields. But most importantly we will introduce Bill 1, the Carbon Tax Repeal Act, and get rid of the carbon tax. A tax which puts significant pressure on business to the point where they are closing their doors. This will put more money in the pockets of Albertans they can use to invest with. With these changes we will get Albertans working again. We will bring investment back to Alberta. We will take the darkness of the past four years and look to a strong light of growth and prosperity. A UCP government can provide hope to those Albertans looking to get back on their feet. The UCP was built for this very reason. We will restore the Alberta Advantage to it’s rightful place.”

https://www.albertastrongandfree.ca/policy/

Matthew Morrisey – Freedom Conservative Party

“Getting Albertans back to work and encouraging small business start ups to come to Airdrie & Cochrane to run their business. Small business is the economic foundation of Alberta and if they're healthy our economy can weather the ebbs and flows of the markets.”

https://www.freedomconservativeparty.ca/platform

 

Danielle Cameron – Alberta Independence Party

“The Alberta Independence Party will make certain that Albertans work first to achieve full employment at unemployment rates of 3.75% with immigration based on economic need and to achieve steady wage increases that match inflation.

The immediate decentralization of Ottawa will spur 160,000 skilled jobs in Alberta in the first 4 years alone with a significant non-skilled employment growth multiplier.

It is important to note that our Plan will generate significant employment, economic growth and diversification, and address the financial shortfalls without a single pipeline to tidewater. Minimum Wage will stay at $15.00 per hour.”

https://albertaindependence.ca/what-we-believe/