EDMONTON—Alberta’s election writ dropped March 19, and voters now have until April 16 to make a decision on the future leadership of the province.

Politicians from each party have already been busy door-knocking and making their pitches on important issues to Albertans — everything from energy, to health care, and employment.

This election season hasn’t been short on controversy, either. From an ongoing RCMP investigation into the United Conservative Party’s alleged connections to a “kamikaze campaign,” to sexual misconduct allegations swirling around the Alberta NDP, this promises to be a busy campaign season with an array of topics to unpack ahead of election day.

With that in mind, questions are bound to arise — and we’re here to answer them.

We’ll be responding to all your pressing Alberta election questions — from explanations on proposed policy or party platforms, to questions about how to vote or attend debates, to clarifications on larger stories or issues as they unfold throughout the campaign. Ask us, and we’ll try to find the answers.

To submit a question, email reporter Nadine Yousif at nadine.yousif@torstargroup.ca or leave us a message on Twitter or Facebook. We will update this story often as we receive questions and answer them.

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Q: I’m out of the country on election day. Can I still vote?

Yes, you can. The Elections Alberta website has detailed instructions for those who are planning to be out of the country on April 16, but still want to cast their ballot.

Those who will be away on election day have two options — vote at an advance polling station, or request a special ballot. Advance polling stations will run from April 9 to April 13, and for the first time, Albertans can now cast their ballot at any polling station, regardless of where their riding is located.

If you happen to be away during the advance voting days as well, you may vote using a special ballot. Those ballots can be requested in writing, by telephone, email, or online. They must be mailed back before 8 p.m. on April 16. Pamela Renwick, director of operations and communications at Elections Alberta, said over 8,000 special ballots have been requested so far.

Q: United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney has spoken out about repealing Alberta’s carbon tax if elected. What would happen if the provincial carbon tax is eliminated?

In an effort to combat climate change, the Canadian government asked each province to submit a plan for a carbon tax by Sept. 1, 2018. Provinces that missed the deadline had a federal carbon tax imposed on them beginning April 1, 2019. Alberta’s NDP was one of the provincial governments that put their own carbon tax into effect, starting on Jan. 1, 2017. Under this tax right now, Albertans pay $30 per tonne on carbon emissions.

Carbon taxes are meant to encourage households and businesses to reduce their fuel emissions. Revenue from Alberta’s carbon tax is used to pay for rebates to consumers, as well as infrastructure or energy-efficiency programming. A previous report here breaks down how the carbon tax has affected Alberta households since its implementation.

Kenney has been vocal in opposition to both federal and provincial carbon taxes, saying they’re “all economic pain and no environmental gain,” despite a major United Nations report that underscored the importance of a price on carbon in combating climate change.

If elected, Kenney said the first bill introduced by a UCP government will be to repeal Alberta’s carbon tax. Trevor Tombe, an economics professor at the University of Calgary, said this would invoke the federal carbon tax on Alberta, which is currently priced at $20 a tonne and will increase by $10 per year to $50 a tonne in 2022. Kenney said he will sue the federal government, like Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has done, if Alberta is forced to comply with the federal carbon tax.

It’s not yet clear what will come of a potential court action against the federal government’s carbon tax.

Q: Where do the major political parties stand on health care?

UCP Leader Jason Kenney has made a few announcements in the last few months regarding health care. He said he plans to conduct a “comprehensive performance review” on Alberta Health Services, the provincial health authority, to reallocate resources “away from administration to delivery of front-line services.” The review is expected to cost $2 million to $3 million.

Kenney also said he is open to allowing private clinics to “bid into the public system,” providing private health-care options for Albertans. He added he would “maintain or increase” spending on health care if elected.

On the opioid crisis, Kenney said his party would impose tougher rules on supervised consumption sites, and would focus resources instead on opioid treatment centres and additional beds for detox centres to reduce wait times. He added the UCP will spend $100 million on a provincial mental health and addictions strategy, and appoint an associate minister to the file.

The NDP released a plan of its own, as well — promising to spend $90 million a year on to reduce surgery wait times if elected. Party leader Rachel Notley added the NDP would continue to fund emergency services so that ambulance crews could be on the street faster. Later on the campaign trail, she also announced a plan to fully cover prescription costs for low- and middle-income seniors.

The Alberta Party and the Alberta Liberal Party have not released comprehensive health-care platforms yet. But Alberta Party Leader Stephen Mandel has expressed his party’s plans to instil mandatory vaccinations for children attending publicly funded schools if elected.

Q: How much is Alberta’s deficit right now, how does it differ from four years ago, and what does each party plan to do to balance the province’s budget?

The third-quarter numbers for Alberta’s budget were released in February, providing the latest update on how the province is faring financially as voters head to the polls. There is a projected $6.9-billion deficit for the 2018-2019 fiscal year. This number is lower than the projected deficit last year, which sat at around $8.8 billion.

At the time, finance minister Joe Ceci credited the shrinking number to higher than expected bitumen royalties. While Alberta’s deficit has significantly increased under the NDP government, the province has been running negative numbers since 2008 under the Progressive Conservatives. Former premier Jim Prentice forecast a $5-billion deficit heading into the 2015 election, which was the largest to date.

Duane Bratt, a political science professor at Mount Royal University, said the reason behind the growing deficit is a combination of both the Alberta NDP’s spending policy, and the falling price of oil. Bratt said when oil was priced at $100 a barrel, the Alberta government capitalized on about $15 billion a year from resource revenues. Now, revenue from oil is around $3 billion a year.

Both the UCP and the NDP have released plans to balance Alberta’s budget in their platforms. The NDP said it would balance the budget by 2024, and is planning to do so by relying on non-renewable resource revenue without making massive cuts to services. A detailed report on the NDP’s plan can be found here.

The UCP said it will reach a surplus by 2023, despite plans to cut the carbon tax, which is to bring in $5.7 billion in estimated revenue over the next four years, and to lower the corporate tax by 8 per cent. Leader Jason Kenney said his party will cancel the $4-billion oil-by-rail program put forward by the NDP, and save that money instead. More on the UCP’s platform can be found here.

The Alberta Party has not released its detailed budget plan yet, but leader Stephen Mandel said in an interview that his party also plans on balancing the budget by 2023.

As for the Alberta Liberal Party, it has proposed an 8 per cent provincial sales tax, and a plan to eliminate personal tax for “most Albertans,” leader David Khan said. More on the Liberals’ plan can be found here.

Q: Small businesses in the province have been struggling in the face of tough economic times. What does each party plan on doing to help business get back up on their feet?

We’ve reached out to the major parties with this question. Here are their responses:

The UCP said it plans on helping small business with the introduction of Bill 2: The Open for Business Act. This includes the creation of a $13 an hour minimum wage for workers who are 17 years old or younger “to encourage job creators to hire young Albertans,” a spokesperson for the UCP said in an email.

The party also plans to reverse changes made under the Alberta NDP to holiday pay — in which all eligible employers are entitled to holiday pay, regardless of whether they work the day or not. The UCP said it will return to a holiday pay qualifying period of 30 work days in the last 90 days preceding a general holiday.

For the NDP, the party pointed to its lowering of the small business tax rate by 33 per cent during its time in office. The tax rate for small businesses right now sits at 2 per cent. Leader Rachel Notley also announced her party will create a “Small Business Investment Office” as a one-stop destination for small businesses looking to get answers or support from the provincial government.

Alberta Party Leader Stephen Mandel said in an interview that, if elected, his party will focus on creating a “positive economic environment” for small businesses in the province to succeed. This includes eliminating the carbon tax, which he said will put more money in the pockets of consumers, as well as evaluating challenges faced by small businesses today as a result of changes to the holiday pay policy, among other things.

Mandel added his party will not reverse the current $15 an hour minimum wage.

Q: What are your plans for post-secondary students, especially on tuition and the freeze the Alberta NDP has continued during its time in power?

The major parties in this election have included post-secondary education in their overall platforms. Here’s what each party is promising:

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The Alberta NDP said it will create 3,000 new post-secondary spaces dedicated to technology education in a wider bid to diversify Alberta’s economy. The party also pointed to its implementation of Bill 19 in 2018, which caps tuition fee increases to the consumer price index. Bill 19 came into effect Feb. 1.

“If re-elected, Rachel Notley’s government would continue to provide stable, consistent funding to post-secondary institutions so that higher education remains accessible and affordable,” a spokesperson for the Alberta NDP told Star Edmonton via email.

On post-secondary education, the UCP plans to measure labour market outcomes of college and university programs to find correlations between provincial subsidies and economic return for taxpayers. The UCP also aims to double the number of schools that CAREERS: Next Generation — a program that connects high school graduates with apprenticeship opportunities — currently works with from 500 to 1,000, and increase the number of students and full-time apprentices from 1,567 to 6,000 by 2023 by giving CAREERS $6 million annually by 2022-23.

The UCP also said it will dedicate $1 million for trades scholarships for 1,000 students, allocate $28 million to the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology’s (NAIT) new collegiate in Edmonton, and budget for an additional $28 million to expand the model in Calgary.

When asked about its stance on a tuition freeze, the UCP’s spokesperson, Matt Solberg, said the party’s caucus voted in favour of the NDP’s bill to tie tuition increases to inflation in the legislature.

The Alberta Party’s plan includes retaining the cap on tuition, and supporting the creation of 45,000 new spaces in the province’s post-secondary institutions by 2024. It also has promises dedicated to expanding employment opportunities for students, and a program that provides incentives for students to work and stay in the province after graduation. More on the party’s platform can be found here.

If elected, the Alberta Liberal Party’s plan for post-secondary students also includes focus on increasing supports for trade enrolment by identifying labour shortages and creating correlating programs. It also plans to revamp Alberta’s financial support system for students to more mimic that of Ontario and federal regulations. The party added it will protect existing programs and ensure education becomes more accessible for lower-income families. The rest of its plan can be found here.

Q: The UCP candidate in my riding pulled out of the local all-candidates forum. I’ve heard this is happening across Alberta. Is this a common election strategy, and what are the ethics of this?

This question inspired a deeper dive, and ultimately, a separate story on UCP candidates skipping local forums in a few ridings across Alberta, which can be found here. In a nutshell, UCP constituents in Banff-Kananaskis, Edmonton-Riverview, Lethbridge-East, and Lethbridge-West have all skipped locally organized forums.

When asked about the party’s mandate on attending local forums, UCP spokesperson Matt Solberg said there is no policy on their candidates’ participation, but added that emphasis is put on door-knocking and having “one-on-one conversations” with voters.

Duane Bratt, a political scientist at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said it’s not uncommon for candidates of a particular party to skip local forums, especially if they’re a front-runner or the incumbent. “There’s no undecided voters, the crowd is small, and they’re better off door-knocking,” Bratt said.

According to Elections Alberta, there are no formal rules regarding participation of candidates in locally organized forums.

Bratt said it’s surprising, however, that UCP candidates are skipping forums in ridings that have strong support for the NDP, like in Shannon Phillips’ riding in Lethbridge-West, or most Edmonton ridings. Still, he said it’s a common practice that is done more by conservative parties, which want to ensure main communication is done by the leader.

“They don’t want be put in a ‘gotcha’ moment, so they just avoid them,” Bratt said.

Q: Do provincial political parties in Alberta receive funding based on votes?

This question is in response to previous federal legislation that was put in place, where political parties received subsidies based on the number of votes they would get in an election. The party would get around $1 to $2 per vote, subject to inflation. This subsidy was phased out under Stephen Harper’s Conservative government in 2011.

The short answer to this question is: No. Pamela Renwick, spokesperson for Elections Alberta, said there is no public funding for political parties in the province based on the number of votes they receive.

Q: How do you vote when you’re homeless?

Homeless shelters and community support centres will have mobile polls on election day, Pamela Renwick from Elections Alberta said, where people accessing services at those shelters will be able to vote in the riding that corresponds to the facility’s location.

People who don’t have identification will still be allowed to vote, Renwick added, provided that an attestation form for them is completed by a representative from the shelter in lieu of identification.

In Edmonton, mobile polls will be at Boyle Street Community Service, the Bissell Centre, and Mustard Seed, Renwick said.

Q: Will home daycares be eligible for the child-care subsidies that have been promised by the Alberta NDP?

To recap, the Alberta NDP announced on March 25 a plan to offer $25-a-day child care, per child, for all Albertans. This will be done by spending $1.5 billion over the next five years on child-care subsidies, as well as the creation of an additional 13,000 daycare spaces provincewide.

When asked about whether home daycares will be part of this plan, the Alberta NDP said yes.

“Our child-care plan will include every child-care spot in the province, including licensed family dayhomes,” a spokesperson for the NDP said via email. “Parents with kids in family dayhomes will pay no more than $25 (per day) and the operator will receive a grant from the government for the difference.”

They added exact amounts will be negotiated with the industry.

Fun facts about the April 16 election

It is Alberta’s 30th general election, with 87 seats up for grabs in the legislature. In order to win a majority, a party needs 44 seats. There are 22 new ridings on the ballot this year — including four in Calgary, three in Edmonton, and two in Airdrie.

In the 2015 election, the Alberta NDP made history by breaking 44 years of rule by the Progressive Conservatives. The party’s win marked the fourth change of government in the province’s history.

The April 16 election marks the first one since the inception of the United Conservative Party (UCP) in 2017, after both the Wildrose Party and the Progressive Conservatives dissolved.

Since the writ dropped March 19, a Mainstreet poll conducted that day finds the UCP ahead among decided voters, with 50.7 per cent of those surveyed supporting the party. The NDP is trailing behind at 37.8 per cent, but is up 10 points since January.

Despite the NDP and the UCP holding much of the province’s attention, there are actually 13 registered political parties in Alberta. Among them: the Freedom Conservative Party of Alberta, the Pro-Life Alberta Political Association, and the Communist Party of Alberta. The Wildrose Party and Progressive Conservatives remain registered as official political parties in the province.

Have more questions? Email them to reporter Nadine Yousif at nadine.yousif@torstargroup.ca

Nadine Yousif is a reporter/photographer for Star Edmonton. Follow her on twitter: @nadineyousif_

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