Alberta Liberal Party . Policies and Platform 1986 with an Introduction Nick Taylor, Party Leader
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I Alberta Liberal Party . Policies and Platform 1986 With an Introduction by Nick Taylor, Party Leader Page 2 INTRODUCTION During the course of the last decade, since declaring 'its independence from the Liberal Party of Canada, the Alberta Liberal Party has developed a series of policies .that reflect and promote the needs and aspirations of the people of this province within the context of Confederation. Our highly-individual approach to development of policies for Alberta, at the same time, has been guided by a number of basic party principles. These include: an objective of supporting and encouraging steady economic growth and broadly-based individual prosperity fair and equal opportunity for education and employment free enterprise and a level of taxation that will encourage, rather than dampen, individual initiative Page 3 policies designed to leave our environment as healthy as we found it. and standards of education and health care that lead the world. : fJh NO} CONi/WC. [0 Our party's position has not always been clearly, or )17"1 ff:tN:f(i'/ /i/t-HTS U./J Bt IN 'TIl£- fairly, presented to the people of Alberta. We have been the ;/17.)7/ (IN, TI!$£ victim of "red-scare" tactics that have led people to filS I}t(p ;/H/ nIT/i& 'i,DiC1ICi/',J af TrE Overlook the facts of our policy record,' that Alberta 1/.' E, 10 ,01/1 7,,19: f 'z r!JrI~r,/7 filP/ Liberals have always been dedicated free enterprisers and .- , /;;:;' 7 ','[1/ ;CI? i) ;r. /1(.',11/ LfCJ5t.fii/{JtVfreetreder s : We have taken the leading position in this 1/!!Es T 1-1 E p!iVllJ , _,' J// Jj'/'[ a,r:; IH r;- regard. It should be noted that the Liberal Party supported '-,' Pf-:J/!;!;;: 1(1f);V '-,~ I f'r;.tPI.[. J from the outset the entrenchment of property rights in the 'I: "7/iIS (r;oRp. ,- t; .1.; ...:l o , -1'1-/ £. Canadian Constitution, an action in effect vetoed by the </17'\: ' 'f,.; of T,f.·/F Conservatives. i; )..177 vI{ £. F The policies put forward in this document are the fA .I" product of research projects sponsored by the party, debate on resolutions presented at conventions and work by hundreds of concerned individuals on party committees. In short, they represent the views of a large cross-section of Albertans as well as my own views. They have been organized into four general categories: Agriculture and the Environment; Education and Employment; Social Programs; and, The Economy and Diversification. Page 4 It is not our objective to wrulew Alberta. but to govern in partnership with the people of Alberta. -- N.W. Taylor. Leader. Alberta Liberal Party Page 5 AGRICULTURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT Let future generations say, ~they left their environment as healthy as they found it.~ Water 1. Undertake a comprehensive water resources study with a view to establishing the probabilities of supplies and demand for the next 50 or 100 years. 2. Encourage new industries consuming large volumes of water to locate in the Athabasca and Peace River basins where the water is, rather than in the water-short southern sections of the the province • .5 f'j!()f::':Sj)).,;5 3. Stop work on the Three Rivers damsite in southern r;:/ t1J1} '/ jtJi../i/ j) IAlberta • Not only is this project inefficient for the - f} r~t:,/,f,"1 /v ,(, I (":,1'/"[ V'/I ~:;; /,'1)1/ k'i/f./' purposes of irrigation and potentially damaging to the ..~;/6/.-r Ii I>/ immediately-adjacent environment, but it will destroy the r-: i ! ('"t)t//' 0, /(ll-.r- r I ....",.....,,.- J) I k- recreational potential of tbree sports-fishing rivers. The - "f; -r 7 rf!~ I I~ il'/ ',i r: - /"')f.? P , h J ;) I ',.'. '(JAalternative is to meet irrigation requirements trough - '""_ ....-;--!./ .'. t-~ ~ ~l;-; ,I 1,/ I I a ;;' / ('(pI t r : development of series of off-stream storage ponds. {"I;£' 17«ADF/1l: /<;~ J 0)';/7 7'/'//i:-' /! S [J /: ~)fJ.I v .. ' , ~ v1 r( In iN !3r: \i I;K; r ;: t? ti /--/J!J . HJl5 l3(f,Y 4. Clean up tbe rivers by working with municipalities Page 6 - ~ / / N ,,:1' ,I' / J ' (f I [Jelrt to build tertiary sewage treatment plants. Water should be ,-J11i! ~'J -r v' , '}'"/f· •.... ,,- . «r J / ' , ..••.. !, < t clean -, ',,' /" r rv- upstream and down from our cities and towns. Central , ~I r:;. (" :;;' .JI'W'.;c ':,,'br /.-'. "pDfv1"rl' . , / ,'//J ' r i:, col.I.ect i.on and sewage treatment should replace settling f,r' / /,) f:l-' !/ .-/ / '" J d f 11 r,1 I ~"r ')." ,r- 1/,,~. } poti s or sma towns. /) PP·)j:.o"R{' )) "-1irrJ\ ,'.(/ (r I ," 1 I . 5. Non-potable fossil water from deep wells and treated sewage water should replace surface water for many industrial uses. Secondary oil recovery projects. for example. use an estimated one million barrels per day of surface water. }/'/ /J113E/?1/l ;I/J JIE /l/t:J T f'lS IJ //r; /~ J. f);if /J "If {'!POIS C/3 5'£C' C:/I/?F/J. ..·»., /i /) P5 ') 10 f) Ii II', SoJB +- / # 'f: IJ A; ;£ A ::fJV S/)o!.J;i/ /0 • " ,( f'J '/f ~~r- Alberta should establish the priority of becoming the ;: "I r~' /1/1. .. , .;J ,.- .. J ~(rf-i , I. '"\/;;L: v I ~Ik' :5 7 1)1-" ,~-- jpf;1[J,JLJ.rststackless jurisdiction in the world. Air standards f fJ ;;11 (,Iii£ [JIn!). (/1 , I';[) pIJ1t! /I)/~~'/ should be made tougher to guarantee a heal thy downwind r: /' ~ 1" ?flDuV P /...i fj, IfI'I t! environment for citizens of Alberta as well as protecting f" ~j( t t" ~)/)t, 7 rprt ;r' fPdownwind agricultural land from eci.d rain fallout • .. ~: ;/01. " ft --,p/)5 P 11ft wl7Ttif/G/) V£.1y C/",PSGL../)'c- ftl!Jl1E ))! /'1' vFR~fJ -.f r/P WOI?K' rs:-r» i5e ()tJ/VE; ) /? t['l. , r:" ,If Land ~ I I J (?, i v I.,:) / / !..{.I""""':; ur:» , D l.--"<" r ~ /5,:k:f! /f1t' liPf r iJJ5- /.J.-:f )/l1} t? (1r;/?I/t . 5ys--;E0 /5 J3E1j /sj:{ , )5 "rSpr-r3!Z '1FT: farmers then unable to sell their property for urban development. 1/5 /:5 O/--G D VI £ttJ//I6- oJ 5!iJfm~N3. Step up reforestation so that not only are trees flJRt;} II) replaced as t:.heyare cut, but increase planting" so that 1f{t'V£ TH& within 10 years t:.heprogram will have replaced every tree " (':~ ~r:; /SF//,; iT r: (;/-;-£ [) , ever cut in Alberta. The most serious flaw in the environmental protection system in Albert:.a is cabinet intervention. Excellent examples of political decisions by cabinet which are poor resource management decisions are Mount Allan, Slave River Dam and the Oldman River Dam (Three Rivers). The Alberta Liberal Party would require the department of the environment to report to the Legislature on all public enquiries and policy recommendations in order to assure cabinet accountability. Agriculture Alberta has entered the period of its Second Agricultural Revolution. The first was the transition from production of beef and buffalo to production and shipment of f)r: / \ ,\!"~"{". (/(0 f f h N· h d \/" rt: • grain at a set 0 statutory reig t rates. ow, w~ t an en to the "Crow" freight rates. we enter a period of transition from growing and shipping to growing. processing and shipping a value-added product. Page 8 1. Encourage development of world-class agricultural processing plants, including meat packing and milling. that can compete efficiently in a free-trade environment with anyone in Canada, the U.S. or overseas. This will stabilize the agricultural economy and create agriculture-related industrial jobs. l\ r __ ....- l' J,.{)/J/r/S; FIJI? /M£;f/lJjj)I-1IC l (iJ') f57;0 IV -»e v.J I£ 0 D rr, 0 F T~~:- ~~'i-/J113r/l1 iP-.;1;?f1'ffJfS fYEE 0 /J ~/ ''ff)ftr) ;/[(05 I ;: 711/1/IK rr I~ 1\._ 1;'/;:tJs/J,.-'l/ />:::- 2. Extend long-term loans to farmers at 6% p :e , payable Cl9fJrTI9I., ;; out of income end for use in purchase of livestock. IVJZ&O{; TO /51 F !ptJ! ry C17P / T/? machinery or grain and not of land. !I/O! ,.(O/JlVs I II mlN;( TIiI3:Jf£ /l,f£ tr.//1VS of ()OJNC- ThIS WlTfJ j(15./i COP/Til/..... ~jJ.6f'U/.)9T//? ON !"I7IVf), J" ';./jUJ....[) /J£- )il9~PY fa j);:5Ct)GJ..£ 77-);,5 j=U/?THtJJf • _________ 3. Offer farmers the option of selling their land to , '_.'.r->:, . 8IJD the ~< provincial government (Heritage Trust Fund) and taking Ii !tI 1-- •, A /- //i/ a lifetime leaseback, transferable to their heirs • The :r IJI..t / • out -;'//n rrJs/lV!$r;, ) I'" _ r: lease arrangement, at a percentage of the crop raised, would ./1./ ,/",.;:::,-- r,j(/;!;l .'" /(8- l i f1f(1{ y/l-/rF' Ofree capital for operating costs. These are policies (J. ;:.,"D 0) / J5 s > prl',.. r. A !J(. ('();JT" 'Qes~gned to stabilize farm incomes at a time of depressed )IA! r;-v .. /,/It... f/'Jf/IJ?NJ~(( cotamodi.ty prices while, at the same time, helping maintain . ~i'~' ~ ~O;V~/;()i)/...D /if; the institution of the family farm. f) N""-; () 4iJ Y !JfJCl0 (0 4. The Alberta Liberal farm package also includes: elimination of the differential between urban and rural power and gas rates; establishment of a debt adjustment so that no owner-occupied farm could be foreclosed V~II;t1tl .~ p1fJV arbitration; removal of provincial taxes from fuel fjr) I I r1 G-(J UIP.