Recent Research
No Worker Left Behind
A Job Creation Strategy for Energy Transition in Alberta
The Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) recently published an industrial blueprint on how to create 200,000 energy jobs in Alberta as we build a sustainable economy by 2050. This report weaves together key points of the AFL’s plan with insights from financial institutions and policy research groups, as well as contextualization and information provided by Parkland Institute’s February 2022 conference, “Implementing a Just Transition.”
Job Creation or Job Loss?
Big Companies Use Tax Cut to Automate Away Jobs in the Oil Sands
This report explains how the four biggest oil sands companies received $4.3 billion in tax cuts from the UCP government since 2019 through the so-called “Job Creation Tax Cut,” while at the same time eliminating thousands of employees from their payrolls. The research shows the Big Four used the tax giveaway to increase executives’ pay and boost cash transfers to shareholders, while accelerating automation and cutting jobs.
Recent Blog Posts
After months of delays, the official handover of community laboratory services from Alberta Precision Laboratories to DynaLIFE took place on December 5. With that, the political tug-of-war within and over Alberta’s medical laboratory system enters yet another round, but Albertans are the ones who will lose out. This op-ed appeared in the Edmonton Journal on December 16, 2022.
Better Way Alberta
Parkland Contributes Research to Provincewide Initiative
Recently Parkland Institute had the opportunity to work with our friends at the Alberta Federation of Labour, Public Interest Alberta, and Friends of Medicare on a campaign called Better Way Alberta. We have produced five short research reports that included clear, implementable, and evidence-based policy recommendations on areas of public policy that are of critical importance today.
What Was She Thinking?
A Glimpse Into Danielle Smith’s Mind
The most in-depth glimpse into Premier Smith’s thinking on a range of critical public policy issues is contained in a 20-page paper entitled “Alberta’s Key Challenges and Opportunities.” Smith’s paper was published in June 2021, before oil and gas prices rose and substantially changed the province’s fiscal outlook. In this blog, Robert Ascah outlines and analyzes her fiscal policy ideas and health-care proposals.