The First Days of a New Premier
Unless you are a competitive diver, most hope to make a big splash when they commence a new high-profile position. Some of the first moves of newly minted political leaders are symbolic in nature while others are more practical in their aims. When Jason Kenney became premier in 2019, he opted to pursue a hybrid option when his government tabled the Carbon Tax Repeal Act as promised during the last provincial election.
Regardless of your own political leanings, hindsight confirms that this decision indeed set the theme for the United Conservative Party’s first ever term on the government side of the Legislative Assembly – standing toe-to-toe with the federal government on a difference on climate change policy that would have an impact on the provincial economy.
On October 6th, a new premier-elect will be named – setting the stage for the winner’s own theme of leadership to be set.
CTV News recently sent out questionnaires to the seven UCP leadership hopefuls. Candidates discussed a number of subjects from their “Albertan idol” and QEII soundtrack, to their political experience and why they want to lead the governing party. The final section each candidate was asked to complete was a brief synopsis of what their first policy move as premier would be.
With a new leader set to be selected in a little more than a fortnight, we want to take a closer look at each of the candidates’ answers.
Leela Aheer
“Re-index AISH, seniors’ benefits, open the war-room books, pause the curriculum, reunite the caucus, listen to the caucus, listen to Albertans and gain back their confidence and the confidence of government. We need to earn Albertans' respect and trust.”
The theme for Aheer could not be more clear. She became a vocal critic of her party and Kenney following her removal from cabinet as the Minister of Culture, Multiculturalism and Status of Women in 2021. The self-described “centrist conservative” wants to use her first days as premier to correct course on many of the political controversies of the last three-and-a-half years as she clearly views these issues as things that could prevent a second term for the UCP in government.
Brian Jean
“Serve legal notice to the prime minister and the premiers that Alberta is invoking Section 46 of the Constitution Act and forcing formal constitutional negotiations. We need to change the Constitution to increase Alberta’s autonomy and roll back the disastrous actions of Justin Trudeau.”
While this statement does not outline specifically what constitutional changes Jean proposed to initiate, his website provides greater detail. Among the proposed changes are ending equalization altogether (contrary to the position of some other candidates), giving Alberta a permanent seat on the Supreme Court, and including language protecting provincial interests and pursuit of international trade. He’s also indicated he will initiate a constitutional challenge of Bill C-48.
Todd Loewen
“Several things to start simultaneously. Alberta Pension Plan and working toward strengthening Alberta’s position in confederation. Complete investigation into Alberta’s COVID response. Accountability Act with functional recall legislation. Work on an Alberta constitution.”
Todd Loewen is seemingly taking the foil approach to Aheer’s first days in office should he be elected leader on October 6. Loewen has also been quite outspoken in his criticism of Kenney and the UCP following his ejection from caucus; however, he has argued that the party has not gone far enough in implementing some of its campaign promises (highlighted by his statement). His focus seems to be filling in the gaps he has identified in platform delivery.
Rajan Sawhney
“Equalization. The formula is up in 18 months. We will draft our preferred formula and I’ll build consensus with the six other con. premiers. Legault wants to get Quebec off equalization, so I’ll talk to him, too. We can do this without reopening the constitution or passing antagonistic legislation.”
With the next renewal of the federal equalization program set to occur before March 31, 2024, Sawhney wants to lead the charge on revamping the formula to be more favourable to Alberta. While she highlights a desire to collaborate with other conservative premiers, she will find some difficulty in gaining consensus with some of our provincial counterparts. Conservative provinces Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Manitoba are all net-receivers of equalization payments and have been for many, many years.
Rebecca Schulz
“The first bill would be our “Planning for the Future Act” directing 35 per cent of the surplus to the Heritage Savings Trust Fund, 35 per cent toward debt and 30 per cent to address affordability and investment attraction. The first policy changes would be to address health care.”
First announced in July, Schulz provided her blueprint for taking advantage of Alberta’s significant surplus in the wake of surging oil and gas royalty and resource revenues. She provides a clear direction on how the surplus would be allocated, however, some questions remain. Her website does not provide clarification if the legislation would only target Budget 2023’s surplus or any future surplus. Additionally, it indicates it would be used on an “unexpected surplus” which seems to give some discretion on when the legislation could be triggered.
On health care, Schulz’s site looks at a few different health care initiatives. Among them includes adding more doctors, increasing virtual health care options, adding more local decision making, and others.
Danielle Smith
“I will commence an immediate 30-day facility audit of Alberta Health Services to identify ways to dramatically expand surge capacity in time for the fall respiratory virus season, and to develop a plan to utilize rural hospitals at full capacity to help clear the surgical backlog.”
It is somewhat surprising to read that Smith’s first action would not involve her controversial Alberta Sovereignty Act as that has been the most prominent talking point of the entire leadership race. Rather, she hopes to build on her promise to fire the Alberta Health Services board if she were to take office. It is not clear what timeframe would apply to her “cleaning house”; however, the time needed to recruit and hire a new board would have considerable impact on the ability of the province’s health authority to action whatever recommendations were to come out of the potential audit.
While this was not a subject of the questionnaire, it is important to note that Smith is the only candidate that would require a by-election in order to sit in the Legislature this fall. When she announced her desire to return to politics, it was shared that she would be seeking the UCP nomination in Livingstone-Macleod (a seat currently held by MLA Roger Reid). Since, she has announced that she would be putting her nomination bid on hold to focus on the leadership race. There is some speculation that she may choose to run in a different riding should she be successful on October 6th; however, we will have to wait until the race concludes to learn more.
Travis Toews
“Order a review of the health care credentialling process. We have a capacity crisis and there are thousands of Albertans who received training in another jurisdiction but can't get a job within our system. We have to find a way to safely and expeditiously on-board foreign-trained professionals.”
Toews has previously expanded on what his plans entail for increased health care capacity in the process. Specifically for credentialling, he has indicated that he will “press the certification bodies to immediately review their processes to optimize the use of trained talent already in the province while ensuring professional care” in addition to expanding the role of nurse practitioners in Alberta.
Alberta passed Bill 49, Labour Mobility Act in 2021 which was designed to speed up the credential recognition process for out-of-province workers and includes twenty-six health professions. The key difference between Toews’ proposed legislation and Bill 49 would be the focus on foreign health care professionals.