Voters should factcheck ahead of coming elections

Recently the public was aware of the fact that Global news media will be fact-checking claims by the various parties in the next provincial election and I hope they will continue the practice into the federal election as well. I also hope other news media outlets will follow suit. This is imperative for people to know which of the parties are being honest and which are not!

The carbon tax has been the topic UCP and the federal Conservative party has used to scare the electorate the most often. It is easy to attack your opponents with unproven claims. People constantly misrepresent their carbon tax cost in the media, such as Jason Kenney’s recent retweet about the amount of carbon tax a Medicine Hat church would have to pay, but which was misquoted by 10-fold, and the recent claim of Rachael Harder that government documents reveal after the election the Liberals plan to increase the carbon tax by 15 times which would cost a family of four up to $5,000 per year, while not mentioning the rebate programs in place provided by the governments. Please, editor, challenge Ms. Harder to produce these documents or have her claim fact-checked for knowledge of the true facts before people cast their vote.

It is easy to attack the government’s claims when you have no plan of your own. I have yet to hear the UCP and Conservation Party’s alternative.

Any one with common sense can see there has been changes to our environment from our weather changes. Most experts in the field agree the governments of Alberta and Canada are trying to protect the environment and grow the economy at the same time. It is working and a carbon tax is a good place to start to encourage people to change their habits to help fight pollution. Economic diversification is taking place across the country and green jobs are being created as it takes place.

It is interesting to note that the four provinces with carbon pricing had the highest GDP growth and created the most jobs in Canada in the 2017.

I will end by asking all Canadians to fact-check information and not be scared into voting with misleading information from one party or another. It is so easy to vote on emotions when given facts that are not true. Show the political parties you are smarter than they think. Know your facts and vote for the party that will work hardest for you.