He’s running for the United Conservative Party leadership, billing himself as a fiscal conservative and a social moderate with "no problem marching in a Pride parade."

Doug Schweitzer is a partner at the Dentons law firm in Calgary, specializing in insolvency and restructuring, lending and distressed asset transactions.

He visited Red Deer yesterday, taking in Westerner Days festivities as well as a barbecue at Living Stones Church.

Tax cuts and jobs sit atop his platform. Schweitzer said Alberta has lost its competitive advantage.

“There was no question in my mind that this was the place to get ahead. It didn’t matter who your parents were, it didn’t matter where you came from, in Alberta, you could get ahead and we need to get that back,” he said.

In 2015, the provincial government raised the corporate income tax from 10 per cent to 12 per cent.

That makes it higher than British Columbia (11 per cent), Ontario (11.5 per cent) and Quebec (11.8 per cent); equal to Manitoba and Saskatchewan; lower than New Brunswick (14 per cent), Newfoundland and Labrador (15 per cent), Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia (both 16 per cent).

Alberta’s small business tax rate was cut from three per cent to two per cent this year, to help small businesses adjust to the carbon tax.

Schweitzer details his tax plan on his website. It includes repealing the carbon tax, lowering income and corporate taxes:

"For those Albertans making up to $100,000, they would see a 1% reduction – from 10% to 9%. Albertans making more than $100,000 are currently paying at progressive rates from 10-15%; under Schweitzer’s plan these Albertans would pay a 10% rate. 

 

Corporations currently paying a 12% rate will see tax relief to 10%.

 

Schweitzer’s proposal would cut their tax rates in half, from 2% to 1%"

  

The leadership candidate also talked about battling the opioid crisis in Alberta. He wants to bring programs like the Calgary Drug Treatment Court, which aims to steer drug offenders away from jail sentences, to mid-sized cities like Red Deer. Schweitzer served on its board for more than five years.

“There’s a drug crisis in Alberta right now, with really powerful drugs like carfentanil and others that are killing people and we need to make sure we come up with innovative solutions on that,” he said.

“It saves us money. For every dollar we put into it, we save three. Things like Drug Treatment Courts are only available in Calgary and Edmonton and that needs to change. We need to make sure they’re available in Red Deer so people in Central Alberta have access to those programs.”