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Response from PC leadership candidate Gary Mar

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Gary Mar
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Infrastructure

Central Alberta’s infrastructure has not kept pace with its rapidly growing population, from roads to schools to recreational facilities. What commitment would you make to the City of Red Deer and other Central Alberta municipalities, area schools and Red Deer College to create the necessary infrastructure to support this growth?

Municipalities are the lifeblood of our province. The places where we live and work, learn and grow, build and play.

For too long, municipalities haven’t been given the consistent funding to handle the increasing demands that they face.

To address this issue, I have made the creation of a new funding agreement between the province and municipalities a policy priority. It’s time that the province listened to what they have to say and responded accordingly.

Municipalities will be given full access to the education property tax base for the 2014 budget year. This arrangement will put more power in the hands of local decision makers because I believe strongly that local decisions are better decisions.

Within 30 days of assuming office as premier, I would establish a Premier’s Council on Provincial-Municipal Fiscal Arrangements and Service Delivery. The mandate of the council would be to tackle these tasks:

• Streamline grant programs to municipalities with the objective of increasing program and service delivery flexibility for local governments;

• Clarify roles and responsibilities;

• Reduce program and service entanglement between the two orders of government.

Housing

The number of extended care beds for senior citizens in Central Alberta has not kept pace with the demand. What will you do to ensure the capital funding and operating funds are there to create and sustain the necessary beds in this region? How would you ensure they remain affordable to senior citizens?

In 2011, Alberta’s seniors population stands around 410,000, growing to 700,000 in 2021 and reaching 900,000 by 2031. In 20 years, the seniors population in Alberta will double from 10 per cent to 20 per cent. Considering the growth of the seniors population over the next two decades, it’s essential to meet their associated health and housing needs.

Over the past 10 years, the Alberta government has made significant progress in increasing supportive living with over $500 million invested in the development or modernization of 10,000 affordable living spaces. Alberta also leads in the country in providing supports to low-income seniors through the Alberta Seniors Benefit, Special Needs Assistance and Dental and Optical Assistance programs. Seniors also benefit from affordable prescription drug coverage and home care and continuing care services through Health and Wellness.

Under my leadership, I will build on existing supports as well as enhance and expand the care and housing options available for Alberta seniors to allow them to be independent as long as possible. I believe that local decisions are the best decisions for Albertans. In supporting seniors, I will engage communities, not-for-profit organizations and the private sector in providing supports for seniors. There must also be consideration given to the role of families in making choices about housing and medical care for seniors in their lives.

Without proper preparation, this level of growth risks placing exceptional pressures on the health-care system, families and communities. Under my leadership, the following options may be considered:

• Reach out to families and friends of seniors by developing an enhanced caregiver supports program to include respite and elder “daycare” components, potentially building on existing tax credits that enable families and friends to stay home to care for their loved ones when it is necessary;

• Continue the successful Affordable Supportive Living Initiative (ASLI) to develop seniors supportive living with municipal, charitable and private sector organizations, especially in high growth areas;

• Use the ASLI process to develop additional long-term care capacity in Alberta where there is a clear need for this form of care, with emphasis on building the capacity needed to remove “bed blockers” in long-term care facilities;

• Work with lodge operators, especially in rural areas, to allow for adequate home care services in those settings to use lodges effectively and allow seniors to stay in their home towns as long as possible;

• Develop a consistent approach for charging seniors accommodation in publicly funded facilities (LTC, DAL, lodge) while ensuring that low-income seniors have supports necessary to access supportive living settings.

Education

Red Deer is the third largest city in Alberta but its young people cannot get degrees directly from their home college. When and how would you give degree granting status to Red Deer College?

One of Alberta’s core advantages is its people. To continue to be a leader in the global economy the sustained development of a highly skilled, knowledgeable, innovative and productive workforce is critical. Alberta must have a robust and comprehensive post-secondary system that gives Albertans a wide range of post-secondary training opportunities, from academic upgrading to graduate studies and everything in between.

We must also attract the brightest and most innovative minds to our institutions. This begins with students. All qualified Albertans who wish to attain post-secondary education must be able to do so. We are fortunate in that we have so many smart and enterprising young people right here in Alberta. In order to keep pace with other jurisdictions, we must draw students from elsewhere in Canada and the world. To attract these students, our institutions must be affordable, accessible and above all they must offer a student experience that is second to none. The first step in attracting the best students is to retain our pool of talented faculty, staff, and administrators, while attracting more to Alberta. I am committed to actively and strategically recruit the world’s best to our institutions, and then work to keep them here.

We must harness the power of post-secondary institutions to be engines of innovation. The creation of knowledge and intellectual property has for centuries been one of the most important roles of universities and colleges. Many of the greatest breakthroughs of the past century began in publicly funded labs. I will work to create a clear and durable innovation strategy, which includes the funding of both basic and applied research, to ensure that society reaps the full benefit of the research enterprise of our post-secondary system.

As the next premier of Alberta, I will commit to working with the Red Deer College leadership to assist them in meeting the requirements necessary to become a degree-granting institution.

Access to affordable post-secondary education will also be an important priority for me. I am committed to maintaining the current tuition cap policy, which caps tuition increases to the Consumer Price Index. As well, students who need loans must have access to them. Alberta has the highest student loan repayment rate in the country with less than 10 per cent of students in default. With this commitment from our students, it does not make sense to deny student loans to qualified Albertans based on arbitrary expectations of parental contributions. In government, I will undertake a review parental income thresholds and contribution amounts and work with the Canada Student Loan Program and the federal government to make appropriate changes.

Transportation

Red Deer is at the centre of a booming economic corridor, yet we have no scheduled passenger service to link citizens and businesses with services and markets in larger centres. What would you to do support the infrastructure for high speed rail service with a stop in Red Deer? What would you do to support scheduled passenger air service to the region? When would you commit to having high speed passenger service and/or air service in place to link Red Deer with Edmonton and Calgary?

If regional leadership wants to discuss the development of high-speed rail and air service, as premier, I will definitely listen to their issues.

My focus as premier, however, will be developing our municipalities in which we live, work and raise families into vibrant communities. Our Alberta Advantage comes from more than just the strength of our economy; it is based in the vibrancy of the communities in which we live.

Vibrant communities are more than infrastructure and engineering. They are dynamic, inclusive and active. They are built on a strong foundation of arts, culture and community spirit. They are defined and supported by the volunteers who make them not just a place, but home.

The provincial government can and must play a role in defining and supporting an integrated approach to the long-term development of our communities. This can’t just be about roads and overpasses. It has to be about building and supporting an environment that puts quality-of-life first.

My plan, called Blueprint Alberta, will look at building a greater, greener, more livable Alberta for all Albertans by 2050. As a starting point, this bold initiative would:

• Develop a provincial green transportation plan;

• Strike a task force to look at how to green provincial building codes;

• Redevelop brownfield sites;

• Develop a long-term plan for parks, sport and recreation;

• Look at how we can be more proactive on air and water quality monitoring;

• Look at how current work on the management of our lakes and rivers can be taken to the next level.

Funding

Red Deer’s per capita funding from provincial sources lags behind other major centres in the province. What would you do to create a more equitable funding model?

Under my leadership, a new relationship between municipalities and the provincial government will be created. I have made the creation of a new funding agreement between the province and municipalities a policy priority. It’s time that the province listened to what they have to say and responded accordingly.

Municipalities will be given full access to the education property tax base for the 2014 budget year. This arrangement will put more power in the hands of local decision makers because I believe strongly that local decisions are better decisions. They have the ability to look at the long-term needs of their citizens and their communities. This policy ensures they have predictable funding to support their local vision because simply put, local decisions are better decisions.

Currently, there is a lack of clarity about the roles and responsibilities between municipal and provincial governments. My policy is a great step forward in better facilitating our relationship with municipalities.

By streamlining the system of municipal grants, it is expected that greater efficiencies will be achieved and there will be reduction in the costs of administration, resulting in a better focus on front-line services, rather than administration. Overall, my initiative will result in:

• An improved level of service to Albertans;

• Greater responsiveness to local needs and priorities;

• Enhanced local decision-making, and accountability;

• Increased collaboration at the local level.

For more information on my policies, please visit www.garymar.ca or call 1-855-GARY MAR (1-855-427-9627). I would greatly appreciate your vote on Sept. 17.