NDP leader promises to spend $7B over 10 years to spur energy investment

NDP Leader Rachel Notley is promising to spend $7 billion over 10 years on incentives for companies willing to build petrochemical and upgrading facilities in Alberta if she is re-elected.

The investment would nearly doublethe $3.6 billion in incentives already committed by Notley's government.

Campaigning on Wednesday, Notley said the additional investment would encourage $75 billion in investment and 70,000 jobs by 2030.

Notley made her announcement at Cessco, an Edmonton company building components for the petrochemical industry.

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The component displayed at the news conference was headed to a $300-million gas-to-plastics plant being built near Fort Saskatchewan, which Notley said was aided by a $200-million royalty credit.

"We own the resources in this province and so it is on us to develop them," Notley said.

The NDP leader said her government's $1 billion in incentives over the last three years has triggered nearly $13 billion in new private sector investment.

United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney has proposed lowering the corporate tax rate from 12 to eight per cent over four years, which he said would create 55,000 jobs.

Notley said this tax "giveaway" is "in return for nothing."

"His plan is phony, discredited, magical thinking," she said. "Quite frankly, he's selling snake oil. He doesn't have a plan to help you. He will just make Alberta and Albertans more vulnerable to boom and busts in the long run."

This was the first stop for Notley on Wednesday. She is also making campaign appearances in Red Deer and Lethbridge.

UCP Leader Jason Kenney is in Lethbridge on Wednesday. Alberta Party leader Stephen Mandel is campaigning in Edmonton.

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