Transforming Alberta

• Adopt successful policy models that maximize transparency of costs, neutrality of delivery and separation of elected officials from government operations.
• Institute a purchaser-provider split where possible to maximize competitive service delivery.
• Replace balanced budget law with one that limits spending increases to population plus economic growth.

• Replace the present global budgeting hospital funding model with one based on payment for results.
• Separate the purchase and provision of services to introduce competitive pressures for more effective and better quality services.

• Reform energy policy in Alberta to make the province competitive for investment for traditional or alternative energy developments.
• Neutrality in policy between all energy supplies should be a key principle.

• Focus on measurable results.
• Recognize wealth creation as the wellspring for environmental improvement.
• Substitute risk and cost-benefit analysis for the precautionary principle.
• Focus on incentives via property rights.
• Embrace environmentally friendly technology.
• Eliminate public sector conflicts of interest by separating resource ownership from regulation.

• Work with Ottawa and the other provinces to end equalization and transfer payments which punish productive, entrepreneurial provinces and reward poor policy and dampen wealth creation in have-not provinces.
• Replace federal transfers to have-not provinces by giving them the GST (must harmonize) and transferring provincial debt back to the federal government to reduce interest payments.

• Modernize the Municipal Government Act to maximize transparency, neutrality and separation in local government operations.
• Require transparency and competition in local government contracting.
• Legislate managed competition model which requires the in-house work force to compete with outside suppliers.

• Divest Alberta Treasury Branches, Epcor, and Enmax and have governments at all levels focus on core service delivery of healthcare, education, highways and the sensible protection of citizens.

• Once the province is back to a balanced budget, deposit 30% of annual resource revenues into the Heritage Fund.

• Require public sector pensions to switch to mandated contributions from mandated benefits; this would put public sector employees on par with the private sector and avoid future public sector pension liabilities.

• The Canadian Constitution allows a province and the federal government to pass an amendment to the Constitution, which then becomes applicable to that province.
• The federal Parliament and Alberta’s legislature should pass a property rights amendment to rectify the lack of such a defined right in the existing Constitution.