GANLEY RESPONDS TO UCP PETROCHEMICAL ANNOUNCEMENT

NDP Energy Critic Kathleen Ganley issued the following statement regarding the UCP’s announcement of the Alberta Petrochemicals Incentive Program (APIP): 

“The UCP has cancelled economic diversification programs simply because they see it as a “luxury.” Instead, they’ve relied on their $4.7 billion corporate handout that saw jobs lost, investment fall, and our economy shrink. As a result, we’ve lost momentum to diversify Alberta’s economy that was started under our government.

“Now the UCP has put forward a program that will lead to fewer jobs, less investment, and greater risk for Albertans compared to our plan while in government.

“Our Made-in-Alberta program was on track to attract $75 billion in investment. The UCPs program will attract less than half that. 

“In addition, our focus on royalty credits over grants meant Albertans got better value for their investment, while the UCP put more risk on Albertans only to get lower returns.

“We need to make strategic investments to diversify our economy and forge a new economic path for our province, but we need to do it in a way that creates as many jobs as possible while taking the risk off Albertans.”