Smith noted the NDP promises to hike the corporate income tax to 11 per cent from eight after the UCP dropped it four points to eight per cent during its term. Notley countered that the UCP economic stewardship has come at price, with higher utility bills and soaring auto insurance rates.īoth sides promise affordability measures to deal with inflation. “Or we can choose to go backward with the same failed NDP policies that hiked taxes, drove out jobs and investment and almost bankrupted our province. “Albertans have a choice between a UCP government that has lower taxes, balanced the budget and returned Alberta to its place as the economic powerhouse of Canada,” said Smith. Smith focused on Notley’s economic record as premier, saying the NDP government took an economy already staggering due to low oil prices and knocked it to the canvas with higher personal and corporate income taxes along with a consumer carbon tax Notley did not campaign on. The UCP leader said that contrasts with Notley’s time in government, when, Smith said, surgical wait lists climbed while the NDP “continued to build the bureaucracy.” Smith said her government is making progress on surgical wait lists and reducing ambulance bottlenecks. “Your understanding of the word ‘guarantee’ is very different than that of most Albertans,” Notley told Smith.īoth Notley and Smith have promised to revitalize primary care to increase access to family doctors. Notley recounted how, in 2014, Smith promised to never cross the floor as Wildrose Party leader only to lead most of her caucus to join the governing Progressive Conservatives. On health, Notley said Smith can’t be trusted not to make Albertans pay for services currently covered by medicare, citing the UCP leader’s past musings that Albertans should pay to see their family doctor. ![]() The leitmotif was trust, with each leader saying the other hasn’t earned it. The two leaders spent the one-hour televised debate speaking to each other and past each other, launching broad rhetorical salvos mixed with sharp asides on the economy, policing, green energy, education and health care. ”If I am premier again, I will work daily to earn your trust and to focus on your priorities.” “But I say what I mean and I mean what I say,“ she said.
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