| In Alberta, the most lively election race in 14 years will officially get underway this fall. But unofficially, the campaign to replace King Ralph has already kicked into high gear.
Several leadership contenders for the Conservative party have launched shiny new campaign websites with their grinning mugs backdropped by photos of the Rockies, Prairie fields and scenes of industry. And they’re all racking up the miles on Alberta highways to schmooze with everyone from ranchers to oil tycoons.
It’s not hard to see why the premiership of Alberta is such a prize in the eyes of so many contenders. We’re the richest province in the country, debt-free, and the economy is going at warp speed. And if you manage to get yourself elected as leader of the Conservatives – in power for 35 years now – let’s be honest, you’ve got a pretty damn good shot at becoming premier.
With that in mind, Fast Forward decided to ask the six candidates who have announced they’re running for the leadership what their vision is for the future of the province, and what action they would take on a few key issues: the environment, health care, post-secondary education and arts and culture.
JIM DINNING
Jim Dinning, widely considered the frontrunner in the leadership race, is chairman of Western Financial Group. Prior to that he was senior vice-president of TransAlta Corporation. Politically, Dinning was minister of community and occupational health under former premier Peter Lougheed, and minister of education under former premier Don Getty, and provincial treasurer under Premier Ralph Klein in the early ’90s, where he oversaw massive budget cuts to various government departments. He also served as chair of the Calgary Regional Health Authority
Impressions: He called at exactly 1 p.m., as promised, and the interview ended at exactly 1:20 p.m., which was the amount of time requested. He was full of platitudes, but very short on specifics.
Vision for the province:
"We can choose to be or do almost anything that we want to, so my view is that we’re at a point where we’re in the game economically. We lead the country in economic growth. We’ve got a balance sheet that is debt-free and we’ve got all of the conditions that are right in the province to focus on sustained job growth that is driven by education and training…. If we did that and that alone, then we would leave the next generation of Albertans a fabulous legacy."
Environment:
"The reason I love to live in Alberta is I love the huge, wide open spaces. Our water is clean. You can look out at that great big blue sky for what seems like forever and nothing we should do and allow others to do should take away from that or put that at risk," says Dinning.
He believes that environmental protection can be achieved by facilitating dialogue between all users of the land.
"I’m convinced that if you say from the start, ‘I’m going to have the highest environmental standards,’ and with that set the bar high enough, then we say to various players – farmers, oil and gas, skidooers, forestry – we sit around a table together and figure out what needs to be done so that there’s peaceful and productive co-existence on the land and then there will be."
Dinning says the government has to pay particular attention to protecting the Eastern Slopes, where the foothills meet the Rockies.
"Those are special places in this province and we’ve got to make sure that we protect them not only for their beauty, but for the wildlife that inhabits that area to make sure we don’t do anything to jeopardize those special places," says Dinning. "We have to stand up and say the reason why we love to live in Alberta is because of these unblemished, wide open, clean spaces and we’re going to keep it that way."
Health care:
Dinning did not support the Klein government’s more controversial "third way" proposals, including allowing doctors to work in both the public and private systems and allowing patients to pay out of pocket for some medical treatments. He says he’d like to focus on making the public health care system stronger rather than increasing privatization.
"We have some of the best public services in all of Canada, so let’s remember we’re not starting behind the starting line. We’re well ahead…. It’s one of the best (health care systems) in the country, but where I’d like to put my emphasis is on making it act and work more like a system," he says.
He’s in favour of making sure that health care professionals are able to utilize the full scope of their skills, including nurse practitioners, who can take on some roles that doctors currently perform.
"The bottom line is… we need to focus on primary health care, electronic health records, giving the others in the profession a chance to do what they need to do and let those component parts come together and go click."
Post-secondary education:
Dinning says every graduate of an Alberta high school "should be able to access a (post-secondary program) somewhere in the province."
"We’ve got to make sure there’s enough spaces for engineering, for carpentry, social work," he says. "I think we’ve got to invest to make sure there are those spaces."
But he says affordability also has to be closely looked at. "Access without affordability is not access," he says, adding that the government has to take a look at total living costs for post-secondary students, not just tuition fees.
Arts and culture:
Dinning says arts and culture are a "vital part" of Alberta communities.
"Just being a champion for the arts is an important start. Number two is, what’s the right funding level? There was a day when there was more funding provided to the arts as a percentage of our total spending," he says. "I just know that the folks in the cultural business are the ultimate in fishes and loaves. If you give them a dollar, their capacity to turn it into five or 10 dollars is awesome."
DAVE HANCOCK
Edmonton-Whitemud MLA Dave Hancock was minister of advanced education until stepping down to enter the leadership race. He’s also been minister of justice and attorney general and minister of intergovernmental and aboriginal affairs.
Impressions: Hancock’s personal assistant came with him to the interview and placed a tape recorder in the middle of the table as soon as the interview started. Hancock was wearing a three-piece suit.
Vision:
"We need to be a learning society. We need to value the potential of people. Resources are something we utilize and we have to utilize wisely, but we also have to understand that we’re going to live in a knowledge economy.… We have to be at the leading edge of creativity and knowledge, which means that we have to position our people, equip our people to play in that world, which means focusing on education at every level."
Environment:
Land use planning is the most important environment issue for Hancock.
"We’ve got to look at that from a provincewide perspective.... How are we using this land in the interests of society as a whole?" he says. "You’ve got to start from an environmental stewardship process and then say, how do we balance the use, understanding our obligation as stewards but utilizing the place because people live here.
Health care:
Alberta needs to focus on health promotion and wellness rather than just acute care, says Hancock.
"We have to think about sustainability and sustainability isn’t about how we do more things for more people. Yes, we have to do those things for people when they need it, but it’s about how we ensure that fewer people actually need those things. It’s about research. It’s about health prevention. Prevention of disease. It’s about being prepared. And it’s about being a healthy society. It’s about living in a healthy environment."
Hancock says his first priority would be to ensure Albertans receive "quality care on a timely basis without regard to ability to pay."
Although he’s not philosophically opposed to allowing doctors to work in both the public and private systems or allowing Albertans to pay for some medical treatments, he says the public must be assured that people can’t buy themselves a spot at the head of the line at the expense of someone else. "It may get you faster service, but not faster than somebody in terms of what they should be able to expect," he explains.
"We want to ensure that we have continuing quality. We want to create an opportunity for timely access. That’s what we’re still struggling with right now, and we do have to curtail the growing cost, but we’re not going to curtail the growing cost by operating a private system."
Post-secondary:
Affordability of post-secondary education has to be addressed, says Hancock. He suggests that the government could give students who have graduated and are working in Alberta a tax break for every year they choose to stay and work in the province in order to make it easier for them to pay off their student loan.
"What we need to do is take the risk factor out and say, if you’re prepared to stay and contribute, then we will understand that that’s a benefit to the community and a benefit to society and so we will help you with that cost over time," he says.
The province also has to make sure there are enough spaces for every student who wants to pursue post-secondary education.
"I’d like to build the educational system to overcapacity deliberately because I think a system that needs students is going to do a lot of the work at recruiting, going into the high schools, talking to students about the opportunities they have and drawing them into the system, so right now we still have a shortage of spaces in the system. We’ve got to do more."
Arts and Culture:
A strong arts and cultural scene is crucial in order to attract the right people to Alberta, says Hancock.
"We haven’t done enough in that area…. We focused on the fiscal agenda, which was important, but now we need to be moving and we need to be understanding if we want to get to the next level, we have to attract the best scientists, the best academics, the top business people. If we want to have companies that can locate anywhere in the world, why are they going to locate here? They’re going to locate here because we have a quality of life where you have a safe community… a health care system that is there for your children and your parents when you need it… the arts and the culture and the things that you do which make life really interesting."
Hancock says people in the arts community in Alberta "should be upset" at the small increase to the Alberta Foundation for the Arts over the past decade.
"We do need to support and sustain the arts community at a higher level – there’s no question about that."
TED MORTON
Ted Morton is an MLA for Foothills-Rocky View, a professor at the University of Calgary and was involved with the Reform Party since its inception. He worked as the director of policy and research for the Canadian Alliance Party and was one of the authors of the controversial "firewall" letter, which suggested that Alberta have its own pension plan, create its own police force, collect its own taxes, and implement health care policy that, if necessary, would violate the Canada Health Act, in order to curtail Ottawa’s power over the province.
Impressions: The interview with Morton began at 7:30 a.m., and Morton offered to buy this tired reporter breakfast. So far, Morton is the most upfront of all the candidates about his viewpoints, and he is definitely the most socially conservative contender. It’s a priority of Morton’s to ensure that freedom of religion and freedom of speech are protected when it comes to same-sex marriage, which he opposes.
Vision for the province:
"I think the picture’s pretty clear where we’d like to be in 30 years. We’d like to still have a strong economy with good jobs for Albertans. We’d like to sustain the strong environment and natural beauty that most people count as an important part of living in Alberta. We want good governance. We want government that’s accountable, efficient. We want a social fabric that accommodates diversity with respect, but respects freedom of religion, expression and speech – the fundamental freedoms."
Environment:
Morton says the province needs a strong land use framework to govern how different parts of the province are developed. He’d like to see particular attention paid to the Eastern Slopes.
"As the population of Alberta has grown so much – from under a million just a few decades ago to over three million now – the value that people place on the Eastern Slopes both for human recreation value, but also for environmental and natural value, has changed a lot," says Morton, adding that he’s hoping "the standard of best use or highest use will be expanded to include that recreational and natural capital value."
"It may mean that oil and gas exploration along the Eastern Slopes will be more restricted than it has been to date, particularly with the heavy density stuff like coalbed methane."
Morton says a strong economy doesn’t have to mean that the environment suffers. "We can have our cake and eat it, too, if we make the right choices."
Health care:
Morton fully supported the "third way proposals" that were shot down by the Conservative caucus.
"The health care issue is a top priority and there are too many people in the party, caucus included, who are comfortable doing nothing, just status quo."
Countries like Sweden, France and Australia allow doctors to work in both public and private systems, and Morton says they outperform the Canadian system. He adds that what’s needed is "safeguards" requiring doctors to put in a certain amount of time in the public system if they want to work in the private system.
"The percentage of the budget that goes to health care has been rising at double the rate of any other type of expenditure, so if we want to have money for education, environment, transportation, poverty, welfare, any of those other programs, we have to get health care costs under control."
Post-secondary:
Morton supports increased government funding for post-secondary education, but he’d like to see it "follow the students" – instead of post-secondary institutions receiving operational funding, funding would be dependent on the number of students they attract.
"That would then incent universities and colleges and institutes to focus their energies on competing for those students and incent them to provide students with a better package," he says.
Morton also supports giving post-secondary institutions "much more autonomy and independence" to set their own tuition levels, and to give them the right to borrow money for future projects.
Morton would also like to see students loan overhauled to make it easier for students to pay them back. "The obligation to repay the loan would be commensurate with your ability to repay the loan."
Arts and culture:
Morton does not support more government funding for the arts because he says "government is probably the worst arbiter of esthetic tastes and is thus bad for art."
He adds that public funding "encourages artists to focus less on their art and more on political lobbying for funding," and that "given the breakdown of societal consensus on artistic merit, public funding leads to inevitable controversy between opposing groups."
Instead, Morton says, "low taxes, a strong economy and tax incentives for donations by patrons" are the best way to encourage the arts.
MARK NORRIS
Mark Norris is a businessman, a former MLA for Edmonton-McClung and a former minister of economic development. He lost his seat in the 2004 election.
Impressions: Norris gives off the vibe of a friendly golden retriever who’s eager to please. At one point in the interview, he stated, "You’re going to love this. You’re going to think I’m giving you all the right answers."
Vision for the province:
"I listened at the door (at the Conservative convention) about how our policy about getting rid of the debt was great, but what have you done for us lately? How are you going to deal with the emerging issues like environment and diversifying the economy? And we don’t really have a lot of answers for that because we were so focused on getting rid of the deficits and the debt. We have to give people a new view of Alberta and that’s what really gets me excited."
Environment:
There’s no "more pressing issue" in the province than protecting the environment, and Norris sees tourism as an important growth industry here.
"Alberta has been remarkably blessed. It’s probably one of the most diverse landscapes in the world…. It is remarkably beautiful," says Norris.
He believes government has to do a better job of balancing the environment with economic growth.
"The problem right now is that in this race to have a great economy, which we have, we have lost balance of development versus the environment. One of our top priorities would be to get that balance back."
Norris says he’d like to see oil and gas companies stop using fresh water in production and he’d also like to see the oilsands industry find an alternative to natural gas to produce bitumen. There also needs to be change at the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (EUB).
"People believe the EUB is just rubberstamping everything for ‘big oil.’ That has to come to an end," says Norris.
Health care:
Norris disagreed with Klein’s "third way" health care plans, and says the current system needs to be reviewed.
"I know that this is a complex issue and that the costs continue to rise and that scares the hell out of government. I get that, but to go back to Albertans without a concrete plan as to how we’re going to open up the system and how it’s going to help you and ask them to buy into it was doomed to failure from the beginning…. I’m not really convinced that the public system is on its death bed the way people are saying it is."
He says Albertans want a guarantee "that the lowest person on the income level, who is just as important as anyone, gets the same services for essential treatment."
The first thing Norris would do is review how much money is being spent on administration rather than patient care.
"Before I would go raze and blow up a system that I think is fundamentally very good, I would like to make sure that the money that’s going there is doing what it’s supposed to be doing."
Post-secondary:
Norris says the province has to ensure that it has a quality post-secondary education system in place for the rapidly growing population, adding that the Klein government made huge cuts to post-secondary in the early ’90s and now’s the time for reinvestment.
"Part of our platform will be to identify how to get new spaces and new instructors ASAP because as we turn away Alberta kids, it’s just lost opportunity – plain and simple," he says. "Investment in education is absolutely paramount."
Affordability also has to be closely looked at, he says. "It has to be affordable so that when kids get out of school, they are not burdened with debt that they can’t get out of."
Arts and culture:
Norris is an enthusiastic supporter of the arts and says the government has to do much more to promote a thriving arts and cultural scene.
"I can’t think of anything that defines a culture more than what we do in our spare time. I’m not about just making money. I know that it’s great in Alberta because anybody who wants a job can have one and companies are doing great and record profits to shareholders, but at the end of the day, what you judge a society by is really by how you take care of the less fortunate and how you recreate, and in Alberta that seems to have gone by the wayside," he says.
"I absolutely love the arts. I love what they bring to a society.... When we talk about Alberta, we’ve always talked about being debt-free. Isn’t that wonderful. Well, it is, but wouldn’t it be nice to say we’re also a cultural mecca. And have people want to come to Alberta and not laugh at us and say well you’re just all those rednecks and you’re out in Alberta making money and that’s all you do. I don’t think that’s how we define a society at all. I really don’t."
LYLE OBERG
Lyle Oberg has been an MLA for Strathmore Brooks since 1993 and is a family doctor by profession. He’s also acted as minister of family and social services, minister of learning and was minister of infrastructure until March 24 of this year when he was kicked out of the provincial cabinet after commenting that Ralph Klein should step down earlier than he had announced.
Impressions: Oberg strolled into Café Beano wearing a suit jacket and jeans and no one recognized him as a politician. When asked questions he’d regularly start off comments with, "Now you have to be careful…."
His vision for the province:
"I think Alberta has the ability to be leader in almost every element and every aspect of society, and whether it’s arts, whether it’s environment, whether it’s economic, whether it’s health care, whether it’s education, I don’t think anybody in Alberta should settle for anything less."
Environment:
Water is the most pressing environmental issue in the province for Oberg.
"I believe what we have to do is bring out water use management plans where we actually map where the water comes from. For example, know how much water comes out of an aquifer, know what is coming from a river, know what the melt is, know all of these things, and then we have to plan the usage of the water. It’s got to be a smart usage of the water."
Oberg is MLA for Strathmore-Brooks, an area that relies heavily on irrigation for agriculture, which is by far the largest withdrawer of water from the Bow River. However, he says irrigation users have become much more efficient in recent years, and it’s now up to individual users to commit to conserving water through measures such as installing low-flow toilets and showers. He says oil and gas companies shouldn’t be allowed to inject fresh water into oil wells or oilsands operations. Instead, the companies should have to use brackish water.
When it comes to the environment and economic development, Oberg believes they are adequately balanced.
"Development and environmental protection can go hand in hand," he says, adding that companies are using more environmentally friendly techniques. "I don’t know if you’ve seen an oil well drilled lately or gas well, but there’s realistically very little damage done to land."
Health care:
Oberg was supportive of a couple of the most controversial "third way" health care reforms – allowing patients to pay for some medical procedures and allowing doctors to work in both the public and private systems.
However, Oberg says under his vision, doctors would be required to work a certain amount of hours in the public system.
"If it’s an either in or out system, there’s a difference in quality because theoretically, and what the experience is, a lot of very good doctors will migrate to the private system and you’ll get a difference in quality like that. By guaranteeing that all doctors must work in the public system for a certain percentage of their time, you’re taking away that difference in quality."
He would also implement a "care guarantee" under which Albertans would be guaranteed to receive medical treatment within a medically approved timeframe. In order to ensure that happened, surgeries could happen in private facilities paid for by the public system, or in any health region in the province.
He says the lack of a care guarantee was the major flaw in Klein’s proposals.
"You can’t simply, just because you have the ability to pay, go to the front of the line and everyone backs up," he says, adding that allowing people to pay for some medical treatment would shorten the queue for those in the public system.
Post-secondary:
Oberg would like to see student loans become more available to any student who needs one, but affordability of post-secondary isn’t a major concern for Oberg. He says the average student debt coming out of post-secondary education is $17,000 – "the price of a small car."
"The government is actually paying 75 per cent of your costs to go to school. Maybe a little lower," he says.
On quality and accessibility, Oberg is in support of more government funding for post-secondary infrastructure.
"I think there needs to be more infrastructure, but ultimately you have to realize the advantage of going to university is actually the professors in the front of the room. Even if it’s a fancy amphitheatre or whatever, if the instructor’s lousy, you’re not going to learn anything, so the instructor is still very much the important element," he says.
Arts and culture:
Oberg is in favour of more government support for arts and culture, but says additional funding would have to be "targeted" and not just "a carte blanche to every little group."
"I think you’ve got to have a very sensible approach to supporting the arts. I don’t think you can make the arts completely subservient to government, so we have to do it smartly, but I do believe there has to be more money put into the arts."
ED STELMACH
Ed Stelmach, MLA for Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville and a farmer, was the minister of international and intergovernmental relations until he stepped down in March to pursue the leadership race. Stelmach is also a former minister of transportation and minister of infrastructure.
Impressions: Stelmach compares the leadership race to a race to head a major corporation. He says the race will be "hard fought" because "you’re taking over a province very similar to a very, very successful corporation" with "tremendous assets" in money and people.
Vision for the future:
"There’s no jurisdiction in North America that has the same opportunity and that is to dream the dream because we’re debt free. We have money in the bank and we can make long-term decisions without worrying about slicing some of the revenues to pay off interest on the debt. This is an opportunity that’s rare and let’s seize it. Let’s work together – and when I say work together, let’s include all Albertans in drawing the vision for the next 25 years."
Environment:
Stelmach describes the environment as "paramount," and leaving the next generation with clean air, water and soil is key for him.
"Most young people are saying, yes, it’s great you’re leaving me a pretty good tax environment, but I want to ensure I have the same benefits of clean air, clean water, clean soil well into the future," he says.
He’s supportive of a comprehensive land use policy to balance the environment with the rapidly growing economy and population.
"What’s this province going to look like at four million people? What’s it going to look like with four-and-a-half million? What do we do with availability of water and preserving some of the current parks and some of the natural areas we have? Land use will be one of the most important discussions…. We do have to protect now, for the future, space for Albertans," he says.
Health care:
Stelmach would like to see "innovation in health care delivery within the parameters of the Canada Health Act."
He says he’s not in support of allowing doctors to work in the public and private systems because he’s heard from many constituents that they fear there would be no more doctors in rural Alberta if they could move to large urban centres and work in the private system.
Stelmach says his priority would be to assure Albertans that quality health care will be there for them in the future, while at the same time addressing "inflationary pressure."
Post-secondary:
Stelmach says affordability of post-secondary is an important issue for him. One thing he’d like to change is the rate of interest students have to pay on their loans.
"Right now students are paying as much as two and a half per cent over prime, which is ridiculous," he says. "Employers are so hungry for those skills today that there’s no reason why we should be paying a premium for the interest on their loan."
He’s in support of some kind of financial incentive to university students willing to stay and work in Alberta, especially those willing to live and work in rural Alberta. He also says more government investment is necessary, although he adds that the government does cover about 70 per cent of the total cost.
Arts and culture:
Stelmach says it’s time to reinvest in arts and culture.
"One of the things I’ve been hearing from people that are looking at Alberta – these might be individuals with very specific skill sets, they could be doing research in a particular field in medicine for instance – and they look at Alberta and yes, they like the tax environment, they don’t mind our weather, but they do pay a lot of attention to the quality of the arts and culture and also the quality of our universities," he says.
***
In addition to asking the declared leadership candidates to state their positions on the environment, health care, post-secondary education and arts and culture, we also asked an expert from each field the following three questions:
1. Of the six candidates who have announced their intentions to run for leadership of the provincial Conservative party, who would you want to win?
2. If you could choose anyone to be the next premier of Alberta, who would it be?
3. What is the most crucial issue in Alberta related to your area of expertise?
ENVIRONMENT
Brian Pincott, Calgary chapter of the Sierra Club
1. I really don’t have a preference at this point. What is important is that the government understand that we cannot have a continued healthy economy without a healthy environment. As a party, the PCs don’t seem to understand this, and they are certainly not showing any degree of vision for our province.
2. The first name that comes to mind is Rev. Bill Phipps of Scarboro United Church. Bill is a generous caring human being who understands the interconnection between social and environmental issues. Bill is not afraid to get out and speak for the voiceless, to stand up for members of our society who are getting left behind. These are the kinds of qualities that we need in our leaders.
3. Without a doubt, the most important issue that is facing us today is global warming. Global warming will affect our water, our air, our agriculture, our forestry, our cities and our economy. We can’t just keep sitting back and hoping it will go away, because it won’t. We have a wonderful opportunity to use our "found money" to position us to be the leaders of renewable energy. We need to be investing in our future rather than wasting time and money denying and avoiding the future.
HEALTH CARE
Avalon Roberts, Friends of Medicare
1. I would not pick any of the candidates as I do not see the Conservative Party as having a plan to deal with our current wealth and a future when oil revenues will not be a major portion of revenues.
2. I cannot name one candidate, but would like to see a premier who can intelligently deal with our opportunity to create an excellent society to the benefit of all Albertans, one where high standards of education, health care and other aspects of the public good would be honoured.
3. I have to name two: improved access to necessary health care for all Albertans within the public system, and accountability to the public for decisions and money spent in the health regions. The dismissal of elected health board members was a disgrace to the democratic process and did nothing to improve public access to the health boards.
POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION
Emily Wyatt, president of the Students’ Union at the U of C
1. I would hope that any leader chosen would acknowledge post-secondary education as the investment that it is and listen to the needs and concerns of students when making decisions. We absolutely need increased government funding in order to improve all aspects of our education system.
2. Jarome Iginla. Hockey season’s over for the Flames – he might as well occupy his time by throwing his jersey into the leadership race!
3. There are three big issues in regard to post-secondary education: affordability, accessibility and quality. All of these areas need improvement in order to give students the best possible education experience.
ARTS AND CULTURE
Tom McCabe, president of Theatre Calgary
1. I am an active supporter of Jim Dinning. I would like to see him be the next leader of the Conservative Party and to be the next premier of the province.
2. I have been actively pursuing increased funding to arts and culture in Alberta from the province, which lags way behind others in per capita funding. When I started this process 18 months ago, I consulted with Jim. At that time he was very encouraging and fully supported the fact funding had fallen way behind and needs to be addressed.
3. As you may assume from my remarks, I believe the most important issue with regard to the province and arts and culture is the neglect that has occurred since the Alberta Foundation for the Arts was established in 1988. |
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