AB: The UCP plan – promises and highlights
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In a sweeping majority, Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party was elected in Alberta, reducing the NDP to opposition status after their single term in government. The UCP was officially sworn in on April 30.
A rundown of UCP promises and highlights:
Taxes
- Removing the provincial carbon tax and abolishing the NDP’s climate leadership plan, which aims to reduce greenhouse gases.
- Cutting corporate taxes to eight per cent from 12 per cent over four years, giving Alberta the lowest rate in Canada.
- Holding a referendum on removing equalization from the constitution if there’s insufficient movement on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion by fall 2021.
Environment
- Replacing the 100-megatonne oilsands emissions cap under the NDP climate leadership plan with a new Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction program. It will be used to fund new carbon emission reduction technologies, among other areas.
- Dissolving Energy Efficiency Alberta, which oversees projects solely funded by the carbon tax.
- Stopping the statutory shutdown of coal – Federal regulations have grandfathered most of Alberta’s 18 coal-fired plants while the remaining six are set to close by an NDP-set deadline of 2030.
Energy
- Setting up a $30-million, taxpayer-funded “war room” to defend Alberta’s energy industry in Canada and abroad.
- Appointing an associate minister of red tape reduction to decrease regulations by one-third across all ministries.
- Developing a $10-million litigation fund for pro-oil development First Nations.
- Establishing a public inquiry into foreign-funded efforts to undermine Alberta’s energy industry.
- Filing a constitutional challenge if Bill C-69 becomes federal law.
- Proclaiming the “turn off the taps legislation within an hour” of the first cabinet meeting, preparing Alberta to use it against B.C. if there is no significant movement on pipelines.
Employment
- Freezing minimum wage increases, repeal rules related to statutory holiday pay and allow young workers to be paid less than adults.
Training
- Doubling the number of schools that CAREERS: Next Generation currently works with from 500 to 1,000 and quadrupling the number of students and full-time apprentices from 1,567 to 6,000 by 2023 by providing CAREERS with over $6 million annually by 2022-23.
- Working with other provinces and territories to better harmonize provincial mobility for apprentices and skilled tradespeople.
