NDP Leader Rachel Notley made her first election campaign stop in Red Deer on Wednesday. (Photo: rdnewsNOW / Sheldon Spackman)

By rdnewsNOW staff

Notley Campaign

Campaign Trail: Notley visits Red Deer, Kenney blasts carbon tax

Mar 20, 2019 | 5:09 PM

NDP Leader Rachel Notley was the first of the major party leaders to make an election campaign-stop in Red Deer on Wednesday.

Amongst chants from supporters of “Four more years, four more years,” Notley recounted the accomplishments her government has made in Red Deer over the past four years.

“Barb Miller and Kim Schreiner have helped to drive major investment in the City of Red Deer,” Notley laid out, “such as the toll-free Gaetz Avenue Interchange, the new courthouse, the six new schools that we are building and modernizing, Red Deer College which is now on the way to becoming the University of Red Deer, and most recently, as a result of non-stop advocacy on the part of these two, the recently announced plan to significantly expand and modernize the Red Deer Hospital.”

Notley says those plans include expanding the emergency room and establishing a catheterization lab.

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Notley described the election as the most important choice Albertans will have to make in a generation.

“Do we want to keep one Alberta moving forward?” she asked. “Mr. Kenney wants two Alberta’s. He will go on to privatize health care and my job and my goal is to protect our public health care.”

If re-elected, Notley says her government would continue its efforts in diversifying Alberta’s economy.

“Jason Kenney will cancel all the work we’ve been doing to support diversification of the economy and diversification of our energy industry, the very work that needs to be done to protect us from the ups and the downs of the oil and gas industry,” she exclaimed. “He wants to cancel it, I want to keep going, I want to take what we have done, I want to pick up from where Peter Lougheed left off and I want to upgrade our resources. I want to create jobs here for Alberta because we are the owners of this resource and it is time we get the full value for it.”

Notley kicked off her day in Edmonton with a promise to get more value out of the province’s oil and gas products. Her plan aims to unlock $75 billion in investment, create 70,000 jobs and significantly increase the amount of petroleum processed in-province by 2030.

United Conservative Leader Jason Kenney visited Lethbridge Wednesday morning and took aim at the NDP Government’s carbon tax.

Kenney reiterated his vow to make repealing the tax his government’s first order of business if he is elected premier.

“This tax has no mandate from the taxpayers,” he said. “Polls show two thirds of Albertans are consistently opposed to it and if the federal government tries to impose it directly, we’ll fight that in court.”

Kenney said nixing the tax would save Albertans $1.4 billion annually.

Alberta Party Leader Stephen Mandel made a child-care announcement in Edmonton on Wednesday, saying a government led by him would provide vouchers and tax credits to help families with kids in daycare or after-school care. He says the vouchers would provide a subsidy on a sliding scale depending on family income of up to 100 per cent of child-care costs.

Mandel also says an Alberta Party government would create more affordable child-care spaces around the province. He says the NDP government’s $25-a-day child-care plan covers just under 7,300 kids, but his party’s program would apply to more than 100,000 Alberta families.

Liberal Leader David Khan announced his party’ splan to improve the classroom environment for students and teachers.

Speaking in Calgary, Khan said Liberal Government will scrap class size guidelines in favour of class size caps.

“Our plan would see class size caps phased in over time by first targeting grades K-3 where class size reductions are the most effective. We would also introduce new accountability mechanisms to ensure funding meets the reduction goals,” Khan explained.

The provincial election campaign officially got underway on Tuesday with Albertans heading to the polls on April 16.