Alberta Leadership Debate

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

Why is the right so obsessed about their own police force? I think most people have respect for the RCMP which to me is a major issue. I doubt your average Alberta would even know who they are. How would Alberta staff such a force with able bodied individuals in our labor shortage?

Ah, first of all the RCMP are unable to maintain employee levels in Alberta so if you think it is different with them policing over a provincial police force you are wrong. Second, I to have respect for the RCMP, but frankly they have become way to big and have there hands in to many cookie jars. Many small communities are NOT happy with the policing provided by the RCMP. Not sure what you mean but the average Alberta not knowing who they are?

Rail line? Economics please. I dare you to tell the oil company dudes (and I work in a place that epitomizes this) who go to the field to that they should ditch their F350 for a train to Edmonton, followed by a rental car to whereever. That'll be a UofA commuter train back for students.

Because the only people that use QE2 are riggers right?

If your counting on your CPP (or some sort of public pension plan) to ride out your retirement plan - good luck. Whether it's branded as APP or CPP - same crap, different pile. Look at the Heritage Fund as to how pathetic the AB govt's investment record has been. (now if you had Ontario Teachers Plan run the thing....)

If you are counting on the CPP for any money, well your screwed. Alberta funds the CPP for the East. We could negotiate a transfer of assests from the CPP to our own fund just as Quebec did. I would be much more confident in a Alberta Pension plan for my future than one run by the Feds. And, did I say that the Alberta government was going to run the fund? No.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by MacDougalbry

I think in your Education platform alone you would double the education budget. Frankly, your education platform sounds like something written by the teacher's union, which is a huge component in the NDP organization. In addition to doubling the number of teachers, you'd need to double the number of schools. Frankly, just not possible... In this economy, there is a scarcity of construction capacity; you have to prioritize infrastructure spending and, currently, hospitals and transportation are number one.

Double the education budget by reducing class sizes to managable levels of 15 students per class? I dont think so. And again, I don't have an exact number but there are plenty of empty schools out that that could be utilized.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

I've been in the hospital in the last couple years. In Calgary, Drayton Valley and in Wetaskiwin. A few of my best friends have been in hospital recently. My sister has, my grandmother has, and my aunt has. And I'll tell you this: the "there isn't a doctor or bed when you need it" argument is crap. The system is not perfect, no doubt, and for non-emergency type visits, there most certainly are problems. But when it comes to emergencies, people remember the horror stories and are led into believing that the entire system is on life support itself.

Ok, I guess all the reports of people unable to obtain family doctors and people stuck in halls of the hospital, people dieing before they get care, miscarriages in the waiting rooms of hospitals, red alerts for ambulances, weeks on weeks wait time, I guess that is all make believe.

And no, those costs will not be recovered when the nurses and doctors start paying taxes. They will never be recovered, unless you intend to charge them back taxes.

Yes they will. Maybe not EVERY single penny, but a good amount would be. Going down the current road we will always be short of doctors and nurses aswell as huge inefficencies with over worked staff, sick leave ect.
Provide these incentives and we get the extra 1200 doctors and 3000 nurses that are need. That is an additional 1200 more individual doctors that we will have paying income tax down the road. That will be huge savings in not having the inefficencies of a stressed out work force. Not to mention it would save countless lives.

I'm well aware of the surplus, but I'll tell you, your plan would eat it away rapidly. Canceling the health care premiums (which I do agree with) will wipe out $1 billion alone.

Yes it would. 1.4 was the last number I heard. And again, I am sure there are areas in the budget that can be trimmed back.

And based on what little of your platform you've revealed, I fear to think of what you would do wrt affordable housing, infrastructure, and other aspects of our society that are in need of a look.

Like I said, the main priorities are Health and Education. I have already said that all Gas tax should go to infrastructure.

I'm not saying your goals are bad, and I'm not saying I disagree with them. From an idealistic point of view, your suggestions are great. But they will cost money. A ton of it. Everything has a cost, and increasing these services to the level you propose would cost a lot. I really don't see any way you could implement this while instituting massive tax cuts at the same time.

Other than increasing the income tax exemption and eliminating health care premiums I didn't propose any massive tax cut. Infact I said it should remain the same. If you think that elminiating taxes for a a few thousand doctors is going to bankrupt the province, well, I dont think so.

[Thunderball]

You clearly went to a lot of effort, so I'll critique these in a respectful and intelligent way:

Originally Posted by jolinar of malkshor

Here is what I would like to see in a platform.

Healthcare:

Double the classroom spaces for all healthcare professions in high demand.

Agreed. Forget about sparing a couple hundred bucks in tuition... lets see some spending on university spaces... ironically... if the province boosts funding to U of C and U of A to where it ought to be, tuition would stop going up, as the universities are already allowing more students than their funding quotas, and for every student over that quota, they shoulder the full cost, which they happily pass on to the student. Two birds with one stone. (Of course, the Universities need kicks in their asses since they waste a lot of money on stupid ventures designed to improve their image... they're public institutions that have a mandate to serve Alberta primarily)

*
Provide free education to all healthcare professions in high demand with a requirement to work in Alberta for 10 years. For each year not worked in Alberta the student must pay back 10% of there educational costs.

I also agree with this, but only for Alberta citizens. People from other countries/provinces could easily abuse this by staying for maybe one or two years... still a nice chunk of returned tuition. Of course, we could always pay these doctors and high educated nurses (RNs and NPs) a lot closer to what they would get in the States to keep them as well.
*
Provide a provincial income tax exemption to all healthcare professions in high demand for the first 10 years of service in Alberta.

This is overkill if you're implementing the above policy in some way, shape or form.
*
Eliminate healthcare premiums.

Agreed. However, I believe strongly that the problem in the healthcare system is not only low supply, but unneccesarily high demand. There would have to be a way to discourage systemic abuse. Off the top of my head, that would be some sort of allowance for GPs to charge a User fee, with free community clinics for low-income and seniors.

*
Provide tax incentives for all research, development and treatment facilities for the healthcare field. Much like the Oil and Gas sector.

Absolutely.

*
Establish a goal to become the world leader in Cancer research, treatment and drug development.

Also agreed.

*
Create a secure Alberta Healthcare Card with bio data and picture to reduce fraud.

Why not go even further and amalgamate driver's licenses and AB healthcare cards into one Alberta SmartCard with biometric data to reduce fraud.

I would also slash the administration in Alberta, and reduce the number of health regions to two... North (Edmonton) and South (Calgary), build new administrative centres in a satellite community to save on land value costs (Airdrie, High River, Nisku or Devon come to mind as candidates) and sell/lease the other buildings to the private sector. There is no reason to have any more than two administrative bodies for 3.3 million people. Way too inefficient.


Education:

Provide Interest free loans to students that will be working in Alberta.

Not necessary. Existing student loan situation is not excessive, and tuition costs for undergraduates is not beyond the point of a fulltime summer job, and supplementary part-time work during the school year.

*
Create a student loan payback system based on annual salary not total debt. (Must pay back the full loan)

So in other words, if I go into a worthless degree program, I can have a much easier debt repayment than someone who went into a program where they get to make a good wage immediately? I don't think that's right.
*
Create more academic spaces all around.

Agreed. Its sad when U of C and U of A combined have roughly half the first-year law seats that Gonzaga University in Spokane has.

*
Give first priority to Alberta and Canadian students over international students.

Definitely. These are not Privately funded institutions... these are public schools reliant on our tax dollars. Private schools can worry about pomp and reputation... public schools have a mandate. Period.
*
Reduce class sizes for primary and secondary education to 12-15 students per class.

This would come with an absolutely massive cost, seeing as the average class size is something like 32. The education budget would have to more than double, and somehow find hundreds of teachers to fill these positions.
*

I'd also have pilot project highschools dedicated to skilled trades, healthcare employment, and education career paths designed to shorten university time.


Childcare

Increase childcare spaces for those that wish to use it.

Agreed. However, I would make it very clear that this is not the "Government sanctioned option" and would bring in tax credits to family members, family friends and parents who take care of children.

*
Establish a minimum salary for childcare workers.

Yep. If there has to be institutional daycare, the workers should be competent. Tough to find competent workers who work for peanuts.
*
Match the federal childcare payment to parents, tax free.

Agreed, but this would be a transferable credit usable for daycare if desired, but also youth sports, and a reward for families taking care of their own.
*
Allow income splitting for families.

Absolutely.

Taxes

Maintain the current tax rate.

Alberta's tax rate is the lowest, but I'd look at the Corporate Tax Rate... its a little higher than it should be, and it hampers non-Oilpatch industry.

*
Increase the provincial tax exemption to $20,000 increasing annually as per inflation.

Agreed.
*
Mandate that all fuel tax collect be used for transporation infrastructure and tax incentives for greener transportation.

I would take half the provincial excise tax and devote it to infrastructure and green transport innovation. I would strongly encourage the federal government to match.
*
Provide greater tax incentives for carbon capture technology and the development of greener tech.

Definitely.
*
Provide tax incentives for healthier life choices.

Absolutely.

I'd also rip up the new Royalty agreement and start over with a much lower rate for conventional oil and all natural gas. I'd look at reviewing the way royalties are calculated and possibly opt for a simplified method of measuring at the wellhead should it save on administration costs.

Oilsands would remain at post-Stelmach levels with exemptions for companies that contribute to their host towns and use clean and state-of-the-art environmentally friendly methods, with the potential to lower their royalty costs to pre-Stelmach levels if they play enough ball.

Other

Withdraw from the CPP and create a Alberta Pension Plan

I don't think this is as important as it was in the 1990s... the fund is much more stable now.

*
Start construction of highspeed rail line between Calgary and Edmonton as soon as economically possible.

This is a very, very expensive proposition with questionable chances of success. As well, we don't need to divert the huge amount of workers required for this task away from needed interchanges, LRT lines, hospitals and schools that have to be built. This is a great idea to look into if and when the economy goes into the toilet and can be done for a much lesser cost. The demand required to make HSR affordable just isn't there. I don't think it would survive unless a round trip was under $50.

*
Withdraw the services of the RCMP for provincial police and mandate the Alberta Sheriffs to fulfill that duty.

This is already happening, but its not a priority.There are much more pressing government spending priorities.

[jolinar of malkshor]

Thanks for your feedback thunderball. Atleast it gets people thinking.