Alberta Minister of Advanced Education Demetrios Nicolaides said NDP Leader Rachel Notley has a "back-of-the-napkin plan to open a downtown Calgary campus.".“While I’m glad Rachel Notley is taking note of downtown Calgary’s renewed energy and optimism, her announcement today contained no real information, including where the campus might be located," Nicolaides said in a statement on Monday evening.."Notley is also, once again, late to the conversation. The UCP is already in talks with the University of Calgary about a potential new campus space downtown, and those talks are much further along than this half-hearted commitment.".Nicolaides said it’s important to note that under Notley’s watch, downtown Calgary was "gutted, as taxes went up, credit ratings went down, and people packed their bags and left for an unprecedented 13 consecutive quarters.".“Today, for the first time in years, vacancy rates in downtown Calgary are starting to come down, according to a recent Avison Young report," Nicolaides said.."This is a byproduct of UCP policies, and Alberta’s growing and diversifying the economy. Alberta is truly back, and Calgary is at the forefront of our province’s success.".Nicolaides said he believes the only risk to the UCP government's success now is another potential NDP government.."This would be disastrous for our downtown core and city at large. The NDP is once again promising to increase business taxes, a move that backfired on them in 2015 and that goes against advice from the Calgary Chamber of Commerce," Nicolaides said.."The NDP would also introduce policies that would exacerbate crime and disorder downtown, like providing taxpayer-funded drugs to addicts, decriminalizing hard drugs, opening more drug consumption sites, and defunding the police. This is not what Calgary needs.".Nicolaides said the UCP government cut business taxes by 33% and is now seeing record-high business tax revenue of $6.4 billion.."This is because businesses and families want to be in Calgary and Alberta again. We are also funding more police and have recently launched a task force to address crime and social disorder through a coordinated response between the province, municipalities, and local partners. We are making downtown Calgary and the city at-large safer," Nicolaides said..“The UCP is moving Alberta forward and getting it right on the economy, which is why we can make critical investments in Calgary and communities across Alberta. The NDP is a threat to Alberta's prosperity.”
