Child care and early learning

We have a new handout for our Alberta Could campaign! Check out the media section of our "Alberta Could" website, where you can download the handout and check out other materials from the campaign for fair taxation in Alberta.

PC leadership candidate Thomas Lukaszuk did not respond directly to our questions on child care policy, but he did send us a statement on his overall outlook on child care in Alberta.

"The dollars are there. With no tax increases, everyday Alberta families could see smaller class sizes, more child-care facilities and long-promised nursing care spaces for their elderly parents. What’s more, says Bill Moore-Kilgannon, hard-working Albertans earning anywhere from $25,000 to $90,000 per year would actually pay less income tax. That could happen, he says, if the Alberta government collected income tax in the same way as every other province."

"Albertans pay the lowest taxes in Canada — or at least some of us do — according to a new study by Public Interest Alberta, which argues for changes to the flat tax regime in the province. The lobby group states that a graduated tax system in Alberta could raise $2 billion more in revenue while maintaining the best rates in the nation."

Public Interest Alberta's Executive Director Bill Moore-Kilgannon says a progressive income tax increase on the top 6 percent of wage earners, would bring in an additional $1 billion dollars of revenue per year. Added to that he says, if the corporate tax rate was also raised by 2 percent to the same 12% level as Saskatchewan, that would allow the province to pay for another a billion dollars in social programs.

"The [Alberta Could] forum is the first of a six-city provincial speaking tour to get people around the province to advocate for progressive income taxes and fair corporate taxes so that Alberta can invest in important public services, said Bill Moore-Kilgannon, executive director of Public Interest Alberta. 'It is time that we have a serious conversation about how to make our tax system fairer and able to support the quality public services that Albertans need and value,' he said."

"Public Interest Alberta recently began a year-long campaign called 'Alberta Could' in order to talk with Albertans about improvements that could be made in the province if a progressive tax rate was reintroduced. 'In a lot of people’s minds, they think that Alberta’s flat tax equals Alberta’s low taxes,' says PIA’s executive director Bill Moore-Kilgannon. 'But they don’t realize that it’s actually low- and middle-income earners who are paying a higher percentage of the total amount we would pay in taxes than if we had a progressive tax system.'"

Our Executive Director Bill Moore-Kilgannon was recently on Alberta Primetime debating our new "Alberta Could…" campaign with a representative of the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation. The campaign advocates for a progressive income tax and fair corporate taxes in Alberta to invest in better public services.

New advocacy campaign shows Alberta Could invest in public services with a progressive income tax and increased corporate tax

"Moore-Kilgannon spoke about the subsidy program, which he said was not doing enough to help low-income families enrol children in licensed facilities. 'For a single parent with two kids, even with the subsidy, it is costing close to $500 a month to put their kids in day care,' he said. As a result, low-income families are enrolling children in unlicensed facilities, which are not covered by the subsidy, or not enrolling children in day care at all.