Many people share my frustration with politics. We often feel that politicians do what they want without considering their constituents once they are elected. There is a closed door system right now, where voting records are hidden.  This allows MLA’s to promise one thing and vote another, pandering to special interest groups. This problem of political accountability and transparency is why I am with the Wildrose Alliance party.

As your MLA I will make public to my constituent all bills and policies that are up for debate. I will do this through an online website where my constituents can log on and voice their opinions to current issues. I will be displaying my voting record, so that my constituents will know if my voting in the Legislature is reflecting the view of the people I represent. I realize that I cannot represent all sides, and that there might be times that I must make decisions against popular opinion. However, with this type of direct democracy I will be accountable to you, the Voter. I want to make sure that I represent your positions but maintain my moral conscience.  If I do represent a view that is against my riding’s popular vote I will explain my reasoning in detail and hopefully restore your confidence in me as one who can be trusted to make decisions with integrity and openness.

Government Accountability:

            Our Policies to keep Government accountable include media-available MLA voting records, live broadcast Cabinet meetings, and the freedom for MLAs to represent their constituent’s view. See the Wildrose Alliance website for more information… http://kvanhauwaert.wordpress.com/    I will also be creating a feed-back system; where my constituents can give input on issues, and even vote on issues.  This will create a dialogue between constituent and MLA, and make your voice heard in Legislature.

 Taxation:

            The Party will implement a flat fixed Provincial income tax rate of 7% and with a basic exemption of $20 000.  I personally believe this basic exception should be even higher. The poverty level in this Province is higher than twenty thousand dollars and the average income for a family is more than double this minimum level.  With the financial fluctuations we have seen in the past two years – the increase in rents and housing not meeting the increase in salary as an example – many more Albertans are struggling just to make ends meet.  We want to keep more in their pocket.  I don’t see the point of spending tax money to collect tax money, just to spend tax money to recycle tax money back in a return. It is better to keep Government’s hands off of taxpayer money as much as possible.

            Increasing the basic tax exemption is the best way to help low income people succeed in our booming economy. Free market principles have proven time and time again to empower the individual to achieve what they need to succeed. A hand-up is always better than a hand-out!

  Environment:

            I am a forth year science student at the University of Alberta and am really concerned with the big environmental problems we are facing. Over the years we have heard of all kinds of radical ideas to clean up our environment and reduce the impact mankind is making on a global scale. Almost all the ideas presented by the bigger parties are impossible to implement or have unacceptable side effects. Working on peripheral issues such as carbon emission taxes or emission credits are just smoke screens that will never solve the real problems we see in the environment.

As a science student – who has been trained to be objective – I clearly see past these political ploys to pacify or ignore the real problems. I am convinced these issues must be solved with free market principles. As a governing body, the Alberta government can implement strong incentives to be environmentally responsible. We can give complete tax exemptions towards environmentally responsible products and technologies. An example of what I am suggesting is to abolish any duties, import taxes, and sales taxes to the top environmentally minded technologies. Technologies associated with solar, wind, or geothermal energy should be strongly encouraged. Businesses that are involved with environmentally responsible products can be given lower income tax percentages or their sales of environmentally responsible products can be used as a deduction towards their income taxes.

With proper incentives a free market approach will produce a new evolution in environmentally responsible products. Our Province will become a world leader in environmental preservation and innovation. The Wildrose Alliance party is the only party that is committed to implementing long term solutions to our environmental problems.

Alberta Space Program (Affordable Housing)

           Yes this “space” program is a tactic to get you to read how using less government can solve our housing issues. It is an issue of great concern and should be resolved in a responsible way. It will not be responsible for us to allow a new inefficient government organization to attempt to resolve this issue with rent caps.

The problem with rental caps is: 1. Property owners will sell their properties and thereby drastically decrease available rentals. The insecurity these caps will cause will scare the free market into selling homes instead of renting. 2. Property owners will INCREASE their rent prices to the maximum level each adjustment period in anticipation for the worst economic situation. 3. The government’s only response to this is to subsidize or build more affordable housing which mean HIGHER taxes for LIFE!  4. Putting rental caps are also a violation on property rights and is nothing more than nationalization of property.

 SOLUTION:  1. We must put the money back in people’s hands by raising the minimum tax levels exemptions to $ 20 000 (or even higher!). This would allow the low income people to have the money to pay for increases in rent. 2. Next thing to do would be to REDUCE property taxes on rental properties. 3. Zoning laws can be liberalized to allow people to rent out their basement suits.  Just doing this would undoubtedly solve the high prices in rent and increase the availability of rental units in as short as time as possible. As you might have noticed, this was all done with LESS government!

Fixed Income:

For those with fixed incomes, such as seniors, I would eliminate property taxes and have their fixed incomes adjusted with the cost of living.

HEALTHCARE:

             There is a political party planning to build more hospitals in this province when there are floors of empty rooms in our current hospitals. This is an attempt to buy your vote. The real source of our healthcare crisis is a massive shortage in medical staff.  LPN’s ($17.91-23.45(after 8 yrs)) and NA’s ($13.48-16.90(after 8 yrs)) are not paid enough compared to other jobs. General practitioners are also not paid enough. There are not enough seats, teachers, equipment, and facilities in the education system for these positions.  

SOLUTION?:  We need to increase staff and improve efficiency of healthcare by: 1. Paying competitive rates for work! 2. Open up more schools to train LPN’s (there is only Norquest college with a two year waiting list) 3. Make a General Practitioner a specialty position to retain and attract new doctors.  4. Allow for Alternative health options, efficiency assessments, and So much more…check out our two page policies on the Wildrose website.

http://wildrosealliance.ca