The Alberta Party candidates are locked and loaded for a late February leadership vote. Plus, everything old is new again for the UCP, who are dusting off a flat tax on income and private health care as topics up for debate at their founding convention.
The official race for Alberta Party leader has begun
The deadline has come and gone, and the final list of Alberta Party leadership candidates stands at three.
Calgary lawyer Kara Levis, Calgary-South East MLA Rick Fraser, and former Edmonton Mayor and PC cabinet minister Stephen Mandel are the contenders vying to fill the void left by former Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark.
Leadership debates are slated for January 24th in Edmonton and February 8th in Calgary, and the election outcome will be known February 27th. Is this was the race party officials were hoping for?
United Conservative Party sets the tone with first crack at a policy framework
If some of the ideas are familiar, that means you were probably paying attention during the Ralph Klein era.
The United Conservative Party has finally come forward with a 21-page draft policy framework, floating ideas like a flat tax on income, equal funding for private schools and expanded private health care.
Party official call the framework a starting point for party members who'll set policy at their founding convention in May. Where the conversation on this may go with average Albertas is anybody's guess.
Our Politics Panel includes: Kathy Kerr, freelance writer, editor and longtime Alberta print journalist; Duane Bratt, Mount Royal University political scientist and Janet Brown, Calgary-based public opinion consultant
