Alberta Election: Political parties respond to small business priorities

On April 16, 2019, Albertans went the polls and elected a United Conservative Part (UCP) government under the leadership of Jason Kenney.

You may be interested on what sorts of small business commitments the UCP and other provincial parties made during the campaigning period. Below, you can check out what the parties had to say about their commitments to small business during the campaign, and what we will be looking for from the new UCP government.

For more information on our lobbying priorities following the 2019 Alberta election, click here.

Leader’s Survey

It is a long-standing tradition of CFIB to ask all party leaders to express their commitments to independent business owners before every election. At the beginning of the campaign period, we sent a Leader’s Survey to all parties who had at least one MLA sitting in the legislature at dissolution (Alberta Liberal Party, Alberta Party, Freedom Conservative Party, NDP, and UCP).

We received responses from all parties except the Freedom Conservative Party. As a strictly non-partisan organization, we are providing the parties’ unedited responses to you in one handy place to help inform your personal decision-making.

Click on the questions below to view and compare the responses of each party.

For more information on the policies of each party, you can find their platforms here:

Alberta Liberals
Alberta Party
Freedom Conservative Party
New Democratic Party
United Conservative Party

Small Business Platform

It’s not enough that parties just recognize small business as a key contributor to Alberta’s economy: their words must be backed up by action. On behalf of our 10,000 members, our small business platform makes 10 recommendations to the next government for better supporting small business, including:

1.    Apply a “Small Business Lens” to all new government policy
2.    Cut red tape
3.    Reduce the Small Business Tax
4.    Balance the budget, control spending
5.    Refund the WCB surplus to employers
6.    Scrap the Carbon Tax
7.    Rebalance labour laws
8.    Freeze the minimum wage, create a training wage
9.    Push back on CPP payroll tax hike, federal tax changes
10. “Just say no” to a PST

Read our full platform here: Ten Policies to Better Support Small Business

Leader’s Survey

Small Business Platform

1. How will you ensure your government is accountable and transparent in reporting the impact new policy has on the independent business community?

2. What is your plan to cut red tape for small businesses in Alberta?

3. How will your government create a more competitive tax environment for independent business in Alberta?

4. How does your government plan to reduce the debt burden, and does your government have a timeline in place to reach a balanced budget?

5. How will your government ensure surplus funds are returned to employers when the board is in an over-funded position?

6. What are your government’s views and future plans regarding the provincial carbon tax?

7. How will your government ensure the realities of small business are reflected in Alberta’s labour laws to ensure a fair balance and more reasonable flexibility between employers and employees?

8. How will you change, if at all, Alberta’s minimum wage policy, and how will you encourage and facilitate conditions that helps promote youth hiring?

9. Does your government have any plans to address the CPP increases, or introduce mitigating measures?

10. Does your government support or oppose introducing a PST, and why or why not?

11. Is there anything else you would like to tell entrepreneurs about your plans for the province?

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