CALGARY — Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley has promised to protect pensions and provide additional homecare to seniors if her party wins the provincial election set for May 29.
Notley says an NDP government would increase funding by $100 million to provide 20,000 more seniors with homecare support over the next four years.
She also committed to staying in the Canada Pension Plan.
Jeremy Nixon, a United Conservative Party candidate in Calgary, says his party has been clear that no pension changes will occur unless Albertans choose to make them through a referendum.
At her announcement, Notley also criticized a video that surfaced this week of Smith suggesting people who got vaccinated during COVID-19 were similar to those who followed Hitler and noting she wouldn't wear a poppy in 2021 because she was so bothered by vaccine mandates.
Smith apologized later Monday.
Notley called Smith's comments "utterly horrifying" and added that voters would need to judge them at the polls later this month.
"What we have here is a premier who is looking at over 75 per cent of Albertans who stepped up, who followed the science and respected the requests that were made by public health officials," she said. "She's comparing those Albertans … to the architects of an antisemitic genocide.
"This is why Albertans cannot trust Danielle Smith's leadership. Albertans, you deserve better."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 8, 2023.
The Canadian Press
