Alberta has always been a place apart from the rest of Canada. There is a fundamental difference in the attitude of Albertans towards the economy, and personal responsibility, and what we expect the government to do for us. I moved here 15 years ago for freedom and opportunity, and there is nowhere else I consider my home..People often think the wealth and success of Alberta is accidental, that the oil and natural gas just happened to be here. Certainly it is true that we are fortunate in the natural resources we have, but many people forget the immense effort, skill, knowledge, technology and capital risk required to exploit resources like the oil sands and unconventional tight oil and shale gas reservoirs. Our systems have encouraged risk taking and investing in new technologies that have put us far ahead of the rest of the world..We’ve all heard the negative stereotypes of Albertans, but the truth is Alberta is a meritocracy, a place where no one cares who you are or where you came from as long as you do your job well. As a trans woman who’s found success and happiness in the oil and gas industry I know anyone can succeed here. But Canada has always tried to leech off Alberta’s wealth, through equalization and other transfers, and as someone who moved here to earn a living and contribute to the economy, it is especially frustrating to be helping to fund a system that encourages others not to do the same and so actually leaves all of Canada below its full potential..Alberta’s entrepreneurial culture and economic strength has long been a draw for people from across Canada. When the NDP was last in power that trend was reversed as the NDP government increased the cost of doing business in Alberta with 97 tax increases and dozens of new regulations that strangled every facet of business. When the economy was suffering under her policies, Notley actually told Albertans struggling to find work that they should just go to BC..Now that the economy is firing again under the UCP, net migration to Alberta has recently been back at record levels because people want to live in a place where success is possible for everyone. Notley and the NDP want to take us backward by raising corporate taxes which will lead to tens of thousands of job losses and shake investor confidence. On the other hand, with Danielle Smith and the UCP every taxpaying Albertan will see their income taxes cut by up to $760.Notley claims to care about affordability and is promising to ‘cap’ electricity prices, but that cap is just taking Albertans’ own money from taxes we all pay to offset electrical bills, not actually saving us any money. Meanwhile her plan for a net zero electrical grid by 2035 will make our actual electrical bills 40% higher and cost Albertans over $50 billion..It’s a little-known fact that much more solar and wind power has actually been built in the last four years under the UCP than was built during the NDP’s term. The NDP focused on picking winners and losers for government to subsidize, while the UCP has lowered costs and regulations and made it easier for private investors to build projects that make economic sense. Instead of forcing an energy transition while renewables are still intermittent and unreliable the UCP will keep our reliable and relatively cheap natural gas fired electricity and keep our actual electric costs low..Like all of North America, Alberta has been faced with an addictions crisis in recent years which has cost thousands of lives and made many people feel unsafe in public spaces, especially transit. Some other jurisdictions, like NDP-controlled BC have gone down a path of decriminalization and enablement with predictably disastrous results. Whereas Notley and the NDP would have followed BC into the abyss, the UCP has focused on expanding access to treatment to actually heal addicts and save lives, and relative to BC, our death rate from substance abuse has started to drop. The UCP’s proposed Compassionate Intervention Act will help even more addicts to find recovery..Public safety has also been impacted lately by federal bail policies that have allowed violent offenders out on the streets resulting in several high-profile violent crimes in recent months. While the province can’t control federal bail rules, the UCP has promised to require violent offenders on bail to wear ankle monitors to make it harder for them to reoffend and help keep Albertans safe..While renewable energy use is expanding, the fact is that world demand for oil and gas is still strong and will be for many years to come. Opponents of the industry have attempted to restrict production of oil and gas in Canada, but as long as world demand is still strong that only shifts production to other jurisdictions that mostly have lower environmental standards than us. There is no global environmental benefit to restricting our own production. As long as demand is there we should produce as much as we can to fill it..When Notley came to power in 2015 she talked about getting ‘social license’ for the oil industry by initiating the carbon tax, creating many new regulations, and appointing anti-oil people like Tzeporah Berman and Ed Whittingham to positions of power. They didn’t just fail to gain the approval of our enemies, it actually emboldened them to push for even more restrictions and limitations..The Trudeau Liberals now want to enact a strict and declining emissions cap on Alberta’s oil and gas industry, and Notley agreed in principle but thought maybe it could start a little higher. The effect of any such cap would be an eventual halt to new development and with it, tens of thousands of jobs and billions in royalties which would have helped to pay for the very social programs the NDP claims to support..The federal Liberal government has even mused about tearing up the Natural Resources Transfer Agreement, part of the Canadian Constitution, and taking away Alberta’s constitutional right to manage our own resources. Notley and the NDP rolled over in the face of federal pressure on multiple issues when they were in power and they will again. We need a government that will fight back against federal overreach every step of the way and only the UCP offers that..Danielle Smith loves Alberta. The Alberta that exists and not the someplace else that the NDP would try to force it to become. The Alberta that offered me, and many thousands like me, freedom and opportunity. For those who love Alberta, as she does, Danielle is the only choice on May 29th.
Alberta has always been a place apart from the rest of Canada. There is a fundamental difference in the attitude of Albertans towards the economy, and personal responsibility, and what we expect the government to do for us. I moved here 15 years ago for freedom and opportunity, and there is nowhere else I consider my home..People often think the wealth and success of Alberta is accidental, that the oil and natural gas just happened to be here. Certainly it is true that we are fortunate in the natural resources we have, but many people forget the immense effort, skill, knowledge, technology and capital risk required to exploit resources like the oil sands and unconventional tight oil and shale gas reservoirs. Our systems have encouraged risk taking and investing in new technologies that have put us far ahead of the rest of the world..We’ve all heard the negative stereotypes of Albertans, but the truth is Alberta is a meritocracy, a place where no one cares who you are or where you came from as long as you do your job well. As a trans woman who’s found success and happiness in the oil and gas industry I know anyone can succeed here. But Canada has always tried to leech off Alberta’s wealth, through equalization and other transfers, and as someone who moved here to earn a living and contribute to the economy, it is especially frustrating to be helping to fund a system that encourages others not to do the same and so actually leaves all of Canada below its full potential..Alberta’s entrepreneurial culture and economic strength has long been a draw for people from across Canada. When the NDP was last in power that trend was reversed as the NDP government increased the cost of doing business in Alberta with 97 tax increases and dozens of new regulations that strangled every facet of business. When the economy was suffering under her policies, Notley actually told Albertans struggling to find work that they should just go to BC..Now that the economy is firing again under the UCP, net migration to Alberta has recently been back at record levels because people want to live in a place where success is possible for everyone. Notley and the NDP want to take us backward by raising corporate taxes which will lead to tens of thousands of job losses and shake investor confidence. On the other hand, with Danielle Smith and the UCP every taxpaying Albertan will see their income taxes cut by up to $760.Notley claims to care about affordability and is promising to ‘cap’ electricity prices, but that cap is just taking Albertans’ own money from taxes we all pay to offset electrical bills, not actually saving us any money. Meanwhile her plan for a net zero electrical grid by 2035 will make our actual electrical bills 40% higher and cost Albertans over $50 billion..It’s a little-known fact that much more solar and wind power has actually been built in the last four years under the UCP than was built during the NDP’s term. The NDP focused on picking winners and losers for government to subsidize, while the UCP has lowered costs and regulations and made it easier for private investors to build projects that make economic sense. Instead of forcing an energy transition while renewables are still intermittent and unreliable the UCP will keep our reliable and relatively cheap natural gas fired electricity and keep our actual electric costs low..Like all of North America, Alberta has been faced with an addictions crisis in recent years which has cost thousands of lives and made many people feel unsafe in public spaces, especially transit. Some other jurisdictions, like NDP-controlled BC have gone down a path of decriminalization and enablement with predictably disastrous results. Whereas Notley and the NDP would have followed BC into the abyss, the UCP has focused on expanding access to treatment to actually heal addicts and save lives, and relative to BC, our death rate from substance abuse has started to drop. The UCP’s proposed Compassionate Intervention Act will help even more addicts to find recovery..Public safety has also been impacted lately by federal bail policies that have allowed violent offenders out on the streets resulting in several high-profile violent crimes in recent months. While the province can’t control federal bail rules, the UCP has promised to require violent offenders on bail to wear ankle monitors to make it harder for them to reoffend and help keep Albertans safe..While renewable energy use is expanding, the fact is that world demand for oil and gas is still strong and will be for many years to come. Opponents of the industry have attempted to restrict production of oil and gas in Canada, but as long as world demand is still strong that only shifts production to other jurisdictions that mostly have lower environmental standards than us. There is no global environmental benefit to restricting our own production. As long as demand is there we should produce as much as we can to fill it..When Notley came to power in 2015 she talked about getting ‘social license’ for the oil industry by initiating the carbon tax, creating many new regulations, and appointing anti-oil people like Tzeporah Berman and Ed Whittingham to positions of power. They didn’t just fail to gain the approval of our enemies, it actually emboldened them to push for even more restrictions and limitations..The Trudeau Liberals now want to enact a strict and declining emissions cap on Alberta’s oil and gas industry, and Notley agreed in principle but thought maybe it could start a little higher. The effect of any such cap would be an eventual halt to new development and with it, tens of thousands of jobs and billions in royalties which would have helped to pay for the very social programs the NDP claims to support..The federal Liberal government has even mused about tearing up the Natural Resources Transfer Agreement, part of the Canadian Constitution, and taking away Alberta’s constitutional right to manage our own resources. Notley and the NDP rolled over in the face of federal pressure on multiple issues when they were in power and they will again. We need a government that will fight back against federal overreach every step of the way and only the UCP offers that..Danielle Smith loves Alberta. The Alberta that exists and not the someplace else that the NDP would try to force it to become. The Alberta that offered me, and many thousands like me, freedom and opportunity. For those who love Alberta, as she does, Danielle is the only choice on May 29th.
