Alberta Party Leader Stephen Mandel says he doesn’t understand why the United Conservative Party has turned the carbon tax into such a huge issue when debt will hurt the province more.
“The fact of the matter is that we have to worry more about the debt,” Mandel told a crowd at the party’s annual general meeting in Edmonton Saturday.
“It just seems simpler to say we’ll eliminate the carbon tax. Everybody thinks everything will be in balance. It won’t be. We’re going to have problems.”
Mandel told reporters afterward that the party would remove the carbon tax applied to heating bills for homes and businesses if they formed government.
He said the proceeds would mostly go toward paying down the debt. He said an Alberta Party government wouldn’t kill the programs funded by the tax.
Nearly 500 members registered for this year’s AGM.
This afternoon, members will discuss and vote on at least 11 resolutions in the afternoon policy sessions.
The resolution about implementing a new taxation model doesn’t mention a sales tax by name.
Instead, it says an Alberta Party government would review government spending and implement a “balanced and sustainable taxation model to maintain a consistent and reliable revenue stream.”
Mandel said the party isn’t endorsing a sales tax. Instead, he said an Alberta Party government will lay out the financial situation and ask Albertans what they think they should do.
Party members like Clark and former leadership candidate Kara Levis, who is running in Calgary-Klein, have talked about the need for a consumption tax.
However, Mandel said during the leadership race that a tax should be put to Alberta voters through a referendum.
Another resolution proposes reducing the amount of government funding given to private schools to 50 per cent a student, down from the current 70 per cent provided by the provincial government.
The resolution notes that out of the five provinces that give public money to private schools, Alberta provides the highest level of funding.
There would be no change in funding for private schools for children with special needs.
Members will also vote on a resolution that proposes an income top-up program to provide benefits to low-income people while giving them incentive to keep working.
A resolution to appoint a citizens committee to look at alternatives to the first-past-the-post electoral citizen is included in the policy package but may not be discussed, as it is not among the resolutions scheduled for debate.