EDMONTON—Jason Kenney says the United Conservative Party is already planning for the transition of government should it win the next provincial election and is planning on drawing up orders in council and legislature bills for “100 days of change.”

On Wednesday, after partaking in an opposition panel discussion in front of hundreds of people gathered in Edmonton with the Rural Municipalities of Alberta, Kenney told reporters his team is gearing up for a potential win over Rachel Notley’s NDP in 2019.

“Which means, planning for orders in council and bills for introduction in the legislature, actually before, not after, the next election,” Kenney said.

“Were going to be doing some of that preparatory work for 100 days of change so that we can hit the ground running.”

Kenney said his party is finalizing its platform over the winter, but has its transition team already in place for a potential win in 2019. He mentioned he would consider selling north Peace Country Crown land to private agricultural producers, but that the idea would be more fleshed out in their election platform.

“Under the Stelmach government, about 100,000 acres of Crown forest land was opened for auction to be cleared and turned into arable agricultural land, and those acres are now producing agricultural products,” he said.

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Kenney also said “through incentives on zero-tillage farming” that greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced.

While farmers could see this as a positive step, Kenney also warned that economic growth is paramount. He cited recent reports that Alberta could be into a deficit of $40 billion by 2040, and that the oil differential has the energy industry losing about $80 million per day, according to the government.

Kenney said he believes a period of “fiscal responsibility” will be needed, but that it won’t result in public sector cuts.

“There will be a period of fiscal responsibility, I believe, regardless of who’s elected,” Kenney said.

Kenney said economic growth of a sustained GDP at three per cent would mean that in the future, deep cuts wouldn’t need to be made.

“But if we have irresponsible leadership that just kicks the deficit can down the road, eventually the debt interest costs would be so great that there would have to be, further down the road, deeper cuts,” Kenney said.

When asked about Alberta’s health-care system compared to British Columbia’s and Quebec’s, Kenney said future collective bargaining agreements will need to be done better.

“I’m reflecting on the last 15 years of collective bargaining agreements where we ended up with the highest labour costs in the country, by far, in terms of the public sector,” said Kenney. “And so my view is the government of British Columbia was much more careful in negotiating collective bargaining agreements.”

Kenney said there needs to be more private options for people in the health-care system.

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“We must have a universal, publicly insured system where nobody has to pay out of pocket for care,” he said.

“But we already have a mix of private providers, and people go in to, for example, a medical clinic to see their GP — they’re going into a private system that is bidding into the public system, so we’re talking about applying the same logic.”

Kenney’s transition team is being led by his chief of staff, Jamie Huckabay, and will also be looking at who they want to bring in for staffers, and spots on commissions and boards.

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