11) ALBERTA COMMUNIST ELECTION PLATFORM

"There is an alternative - where the tremendous wealth created by Alberta workers is used for the people's needs" - Excerpts from the April 23 election platform of the Communist Party-Alberta

QUALITY OF LIFE AND SOCIAL SERVICES

* Reduce the cost of shelter: Fund CMHC insurance costs for first time home buyers; impose rent controls; build 100,000 provincially subsidized housing units; public ownership of utilities to reduce costs to consumers.

* Provide quality health care - publicly funded and delivered: End all user fees; expand medicare with dental care, prescriptions, eye care and health promotion; increase staffing, reduce wait times; provide quality public facilities for an aging population - including home-care and institutional care.

* Create free child care programs: Fully funded childcare; before and after-school care programs; a nurse in every school.

* Fund all public education: More teachers and allied health professionals; no parent fees for school trips, school supplies, sports, cultural programs or text boos; reduced hours for teachers; more apprenticeship training; no post-secondary school fees; free public transportation to and from school; free lunch programs in all public schools.

WORKING CONDITIONS

* Repeal barriers to unionization; double the minimum wage, indexed to inflation and no exceptions; 32-hour work week with no loss in take-home pay; full rights for foreign workers to unite, not divide workers; end child labour in Alberta.

ENVIRONMENT

* Enforce strict environmental controls; prohibitive fines to polluters; criminal charges for corporate executives. major publicly funded research into alternative energy and non-polluting oil sands extraction, with public ownership of patents; require full environmental clean-up before new oil sands projects; take public ownership in energy projects - up to 100% - to obtain public access to corporate financial secrets and internal reports on environmental matters.

ECONOMY

* Public ownership in energy corporations; increase energy royalties to at least average world rates; stop fuelling the American war machine; diversify sales of energy resources to domestic and foreign customers pledged to peaceful use; use a portion of oil revenues to diversify the economy; end dependence on energy extraction; research and development in post-carbon technologies; process energy resources in Alberta - keep good jobs here.

DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS

* Labour rights are human rights!

* Pay equity legislation

*First Nations community rights to self-government, environmental protection, and economic development

* Full human rights protection to lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgendered/questioning (LGBTQ) persons

* Proportional representation - make every vote count

* Public funding of all registered parties

(The above article is from the April 16-30, 2012, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)