The Alberta Party will diversify our economy

The PCs have failed to diversify Alberta's economy

During the last forty-four years the PCs have been saying that we need to diversify Alberta’s economy. Forty-four years later the PCs are saying exactly the same thing with no real results.

In fact, former PC finance minister Ted Morton recently revealed how Alberta taxpayers are on the hook for $26 Billion for processing payment to build the Northwest Upgrader, a bitumen refinery near Edmonton.

“What began as a low-risk, low-cost project to encourage domestic bitumen upgrading has morphed into a multibillion-dollar boondoggle with high risks for Alberta taxpayers,” said in a paper released by the University of Calgary School of Public Policy.

The Alberta Party has a better way.

The Alberta Party believes in market-driven economic diversification where entrepreneurs and the free market, not the PCs, decide the future direction of Alberta’s economy. 

 
We will:

• Promote entrepreneurship by gradually phasing out Alberta’s small business tax.

• Invest an additional $100 million in the Alberta Enterprise Fund, an arms-length agency that provides venture capital funds to support Alberta startups.

• Invest in infrastructure that supports our creative industries and protect arts and cultural funding.

• Diversify markets for our agricultural products by working with the federal government to promote them internationally.

• Increase support for the development of new value added agricultural products for local and domestic markets. 

We believe that the government shouldn’t be in the business of picking winners and losers. The Northwest Upgrader is just the latest failed PC attempt to diversify the economy. Instead, we believe that the government should establish an environment that supports entrepreneurship and innovation.

The Alberta Party has a better way.

Read our full platform here.