Inscho running for MLA seat; six confirmed candidates in Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul riding

The Alberta Advantage Party.

There are now six candidates up for the MLA seat in the Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul riding.

UCP candidate David Hanson, NDP candidate Kari Whan, Alberta Party candidate Glenn Andersen and Independent Kacey Daniels have been joined by David Garnett-Bennett, nominee for the Alberta Independence Party, and David Inscho, nominee, and President of the Alberta Advantage Party.

Inscho is originally from St. Paul and was a Wildrose member before the party united with the Progressive Conservatives in 2017.

Inscho most recently ran as an independent in the Innisfail-Sylvan Lake byelection last summer.

“The reason I’m running is quite literally we’re in a pretty big mess and we’ve had a lot of people who sat down around the table and have come up with an economic plan that we think will put is on the track for better times yet,” said Inscho.

Inscho said the Alberta Advantage Party would create tax reform in the province.

They would raise the minimum tax credit and a $200 tax credit for families with children under five years of age.

“We can’t figure out why the government would have people paying taxes when they’re still living below the poverty line. That doesn’t make sense to us so we’re raising a basic exemption for everyone from $18,900 to $24,120,” said Inscho.

To jumpstart the energy sector, he says smaller producers should be allowed to operate many of the abandoned oil wells in the province to turn a “liability” into an asset.

“They say that they can most definitely make a profit by operating these wells that these wells are still viable for them because their overhead is so much less than what it is for a big corporation to operate,” said Inscho.

A divisive topic in this election is the future of Alberta in the federal equalization program.

“The formula which is being used right now is absolutely ludicrous because it does not take into account any upswings or downswings in the economy,” said Inscho.

“As we all know perfectly well, we’ve ended up borrowing billions of dollars and quite literally, we’re going to the bank and borrow money to handle it ends up going to the federal government. It’s lunacy.

“Unless an equalization program is favorable and does not penalize the province of Alberta, we simply wouldn’t sign the agreement. That’s all there is to it.”

Inscho also said his party has a plan for limiting rural crime by hiring more sheriffs, increasing the pay for crown attorneys to incentive more lawyers to work in that field, and increasing the number of judges as well.

“The way the system is working right now, while they call it the justice system, there’s no such thing. You’ve got people who seem to be able to commit crime over and over and over again with total impunity,” said Inscho.

“It’s got to the point that is such a pandemic level that people don’t even talk about it anymore. It’s just, ‘it was my turn this week.'”

The Alberta Advantage Party was formed on November 9, 2018. Inscho worked for the Wildrose party before helping form this new one. He said the party believes in governance by results and not by process-based.

He will be at the all-candidates forums. The first one in the riding is in Cold Lake Thursday. The Bonnyville forum is April 8 and the St. Paul forum is April 9.

The Freedom Conservative Party appeared to be running a candidate in this running, but as of Monday morning, Jim McKinnon is slotted to run in the Vermilion-Lloydminster-Wainwright riding.

Lakeland Connect will be reaching out to David Garnett-Bennett, nominee for the Alberta Independence Party.