PC PLATFORM - Focus on regional decision-making by establishing eight to 10 operating districts, Improve safety standards with more monitoring, auditing and ensuring compliance, Review largest hospitals to improve efficiencies through acute-care hospital benchmarking, Reduce wait times by investing in additional continuing-care spaces, expanding some emergency departments and allow health-care professionals to do more, Invest in early childhood development and add three new Parent Link Centres
PC PLATFORM
Health
Focus on regional decision-making by establishing eight to 10 operating districts
Improve safety standards with more monitoring, auditing and ensuring compliance
Review largest hospitals to improve efficiencies through acute-care hospital benchmarking
Reduce wait times by investing in additional continuing-care spaces, expanding some emergency departments and allow health-care professionals to do more
Education
Invest in early childhood development and add three new Parent Link Centres
Support student success through curriculum and grading changes, lowering diploma exam weighting, and more dual-credit partnerships
Invest in teachers by preserving front-line positions and investing in more training
Improve post-secondary access with enhanced financial aid and long-term funding
Finances
Balance budget by 2017 with a combination of reduced government expenses, raised revenues and using the contingency fund
Bring public service costs in line with the national average by cutting costs in all ministries
Gradually increase taxes on individuals in the highest tax bracket; royalty rates and corporate taxes rates will remain unchanged
NDP PLATFORM
Health
Ensure a stable and secure budget for health-care services, reverse PC cuts and reverse the health-care levy
Create 2,000 long-term care beds over four years to improve care and reduce congestion
Eliminate health infrastructure backlog by repairing facilities and constructing new ones needed
Education
Reverse cuts and ensure stable, predictable funding for school boards, colleges and universities
Invest to reduce class sizes in the K-12 system, reduce school fees, and build the new schools needed to reduce class sizes and improve learning conditions
Phase in all-day kindergarten and a school lunch program for elementary students
Tuition freeze for post-secondary students
Finances
Balance the budget by 2018
Increase corporate tax rates from 10 per cent to 12 per cent
Albertans earning more than $125,000 will pay progressively higher taxes, up to 15 per cent on income of more than $300,000
Roll back increases to user fees, reverse cuts to charitable donation tax credit
WILDROSE PLATFORM
Health
Create a patient-centred health care funding model, allowing funding to follow the patient to the provider of their choice
Reduce wait times by reducing bureaucracy and implementing a wait-time guarantee that would allow Albertans to get necessary surgeries elsewhere if wait times are too long
Gradually decentralize decision-making and allow patients easier access to their health records
Education
Build schools on time and on budget, approving new schools and modernizations in a consistent, transparent way, and empower local school boards
Get back to basics with curriculum and grading, developing a provincial standard for letter or percentage grades in grades five through 12
Eliminate mandatory school fees, protect a parent's choice of schools, ensure adequate funding for special needs students, and support a bully-free experience for all students
Finances
Balance the budget by 2017 without new taxes or cuts to front line services, investing half of all surpluses into the Heritage Fund
Cut waste in the government by reducing the number and pay of managers and shrinking cabinet
Negotiate a new equalization program to keep more money in Alberta
Implement tax incentives to stimulate research and investment without government interference
LIBERAL PLATFORM
Health
Lower surgery and emergency room wait times and improve access to primary care by investing in multi-disciplinary medical teams
Reduce administrative costs and prioritize resources for front-line workers
Invest in mental health and addictions with early intervention, treatment and rehabilitation
Create more long-term care beds to free up hospital space
Education
Build every school on the priority list
Phase out school fees, including transportation costs
Hire more teachers, reduce class sizes, and build schools as community hubs
Reduce tuition fees for post-secondary students, and ease student debt by providing more grants and bursaries
Finances
Introduce a progressive personal income tax system that reduces tax on the first $50,000 earned to 9.5 per cent and up to 15 per cent on amounts of more than $250,000
Raise corporate tax rate to 12 per cent, and eliminate taxes on small businesses
Redirect remaining Carbon Capture and Storage funding to front-line government services
Reverse the cuts to the charitable donation tax credit
ALBERTA PARTY PLATFORM
Health
Reverse cuts to healthcare and guarantee funding that matches population growth and inflation
Reduce costs by investing in long-term care beds to free up acute care space, and reduce costs in acute care system by investing in preventative care
Invest in critical health infrastructure projects
Improve access to mental health and addiction treatment
Education
Reverse cuts to education and guarantee per-student funding to match growth and inflation, while phasing out school fees
Invest in new schools to keep pace with population growth and reduce subsidies to private schools that do not serve the public interest
Cap tuition increase to the rate of inflation and reduce student debt by increasing access to needs-based grants
Finances
Balance the budget over six years
Replace the flat tax with a progressive personal income tax system and raise the corporate tax rate by one per cent, while phasing out small-business taxes
Mandate 50 per cent of resource revenues are saved in the Heritage Fund, and mandate 100 per cent of surpluses are used to pay down debt or invested in the Heritage Fund
– Compiled from information available on the five parties' websites.
