Today’s election commentary looks at the bottom lines of the platforms of the four major political parties contesting the April 23 election.   The costing documents for party platforms are couched in communications language and use different assumptions or timeframes.  This blog posting tries to cut through some of the rhetorical fog by focusing on the bottom line impact of the different platforms on the current budget year that started on April 1, 2012.

Today's election commentary considers the Alberta Party's proposals for democratic renewal.  Among several indicators highlighting a democratic malaise in Canada (and throughout the provinces, and other advanced democracies), low voter turnout is often cited as a major concern.  In Alberta, voter turnouts have been decreasing steadily, from 60.2% in 1993 to 40.6% in 2008 (Elections Alberta, 2010).  Voting is one of several ways citizens engage with their politics, but it is generally understood that not all is well with our democracy and its institutions.  As part of its 2012 provincial election platform, the Alberta Party sketched some plans to renew Alberta's democracy (Alberta Party, 2012).

Today’s election commentary looks at the Alberta Liberal proposal to increase ‘English as a Second Language’ funding by $76 million per year.

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Today’s election commentary looks at the Progressive Conservative plan to eliminate child poverty in 5 years and a 10 year plan to reduce poverty.

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More occasional commentary on the social policy commitments of the Alberta political parties.  Today we look at the $25 per day cap on childcare proposed by the Alberta NDP.

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The ESPC plans to occasionally analyze social policy commitments of the Alberta political parties on its blog.  Today, we start with the child tax credit promise made on March 29 by the Wildrose Party.

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