Complete Candidate Responses
EDMONTON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today released responses from Alberta's PC leadership candidates to 16 key questions posed by the CTF.
Part two of A Taxpayers' Platform, publishes and grades the responses, A+ through F. Questions are broken down into four categories: Taxes, Spending, Democratic/Transparency Reform, and Health Care Reform. Individual question grades were determined by a panel of CTF provincial directors and averaged to create a category grade and an overall grade.
The CTF makes clear that this survey and grading is not an endorsement of any candidate, but rather public information on where candidates - and Alberta's next premier - stand on priority issues advocated by the CTF. Moreover, this survey provided a written commitment from our next premier to the same.
Overall:
Ted Morton: B
Gary McPherson: B-
Mark Norris: C+
Lyle Oberg: C+
Dave Hancock: C
Victor Doerksen: C-
Jim Dinning: D+
Ed Stelmach D+
Taxes:
Ted Morton: B-
Lyle Oberg: B-
Gary McPherson: C+
Dave Hancock: C-
Mark Norris: C-
Victor Doerksen: D+
Jim Dinning: D
Ed Stelmach D
Spending:
Ted Morton: A
Gary McPherson: B
Jim Dinning: C+
Victor Doerksen: C+
Dave Hancock: C+
Mark Norris: C+
Lyle Oberg: D+
Ed Stelmach: D+
Democratic/Transparency Reform:
Gary McPherson: A
Mark Norris: B
Lyle Oberg: B-
Dave Hancock: C+
Ted Morton: C+
Victor Doerksen: C
Ed Stelmach: C-
Jim Dinning: D
Health Care Reform:
Ted Morton: A+
Lyle Oberg: A+
Mark Norris: B
Gary McPherson: C
Victor Doerksen: C
Jim Dinning: D
Dave Hancock: D
Ed Stelmach: D
"We are particularly pleased to gain firm commitments from four leadership candidates to adopt the CTF's long-held position to eliminate health care premiums," said CTF-Alberta director Scott Hennig. "Considering nearly all of the opposition leaders have already committed to the same, health care premiums may soon be a thing of the past."
"However, we are disappointed only one candidate (Ted Morton) gave taxpayers a firm commitment to introduce a spending limit law," continued Hennig. "Statutory limits were key to balancing the budget and paying off our debt in Alberta, it's now time to take the next step and put the brakes on the recent trend of wild spending increases if we want to ensure future sustainability."
"It's interesting to see the one non-politician, Gary McPherson, trumped all the other candidates when it came to committing to democratic and transparency reform," stated Hennig. "He clearly recognizes what the politicians don't - the status quo won't cut it when it comes to transparency and democracy in Alberta."
The purpose of the Taxpayers' Platform is: to pin leaders down on issues that have fallen below the radar (and not been part of candidate platforms), to inform CTF supporters and the public on where candidates stand on priority issues advocated by the CTF and finally, to gather written committments from our future premier and cabinet ministers.
Complete copies of A Taxpayers' Platform, including full responses by the eight leadership candidates can be found on-line by clicking here or by contacting the Alberta office at 1-800-661-0187.
Is Canada Off Track?
Canada has problems. You see them at gas station. You see them at the grocery store. You see them on your taxes.
Is anyone listening to you to find out where you think Canada’s off track and what you think we could do to make things better?
You can tell us what you think by filling out the survey