Nathan Stephan is committed to seeing financial responsibility within government is he’s elected for the Wildrose Party in Red Deer South.
Stephan said his party would create balanced budget legislation, plus it would ensure money is being put into the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund.
He said his party would reduce expenditure by reducing the size of government.
“It’s a focus on government bureaucracy and not on the frontline services,” said Stephan.
The party would dismantle centralized bureaucracy of Alberta Health Services and re-introduce regional health boards so that there’s local decision making. The party would look at accessibility of health care.
“Currently, we have private delivery of health care through our family doctors. Those are private businesses and that seems to work well within our publicly funded health-care system.”
The party proposes to open up private delivery within the public health-care system, Stephan said. It would be publicly accessible and publicly funded, so it is not a two-tiered system, he added.
“It lessens restrictions on what type of health-care services can be required by private companies, with the goal of increasing accessibility in the health-care system,” said Stephan. “We’d also look at working with universities and colleges to increase the number of students in key health-care roles.”
The party proposes to give tax breaks and student loan breaks to students who choose to stay and work in Alberta’s health-care industry.
The party would also create more long-term care beds for seniors because right now a number of acute care hospital beds are being taken up this way.
The Wildrose would also bring forth MLA recall legislation, so voters have the ability to fire their politician. The party would also set fixed election terms with a fixed date. All MLAs would also be given a free vote, so they can vote the way the constituents want them to, Stephan said.
Stephan, 37, is a chartered accountant who has been married to his wife Tracey, a registered nurse, for 11 years. They have six children, ranging in age from 24 months old to 10.
ltester@www.reddeeradvocate.com