April’s change in government has nonprofits from across all subsectors wondering to expect from the UCP and speculating about how the leadership change might impact how they serve their clients.

On behalf of ABNN, Volunteer Alberta has created a UCP Party Platform Summary & Analysis. Organized by Ministry, the summary provides an overview of UCP pledges, including commitments about funding, red tape reduction and taxes, as well as proposed changes to services (e.g. immigration, housing, victim services). This summary is meant as a reference guide and cites what pages to go to for more information. 

Click here to view the UCP Party Platform Summary & Analysis.

Platform provides some promise, and some cause for apprehension

The UCP platform presents a number of positive prospects to the nonprofit sector. Their pledge to create a Civil Society Fund and their suggestion of moving to 5-year funding agreements when possible offers opportunities for more stable funding for our sector. The UCP platform also provides hope to organizations that focus on mental health and victim’s services, employment readiness programs, and parks services, with commitments for closer collaboration with the provincial government. Furthermore, the UCP’s proposed Freedom to Care Act and focus on reducing ‘red tape’ could break down some regulatory barriers, helping some organizations be more effective in their work. As an immediate opportunity, nonprofits are encouraged to take a moment to complete the Government of Alberta’s Cut Red Tape Survey.

On the other hand, the UCP government’s strong focus on balancing the budget could have significant impacts to our sector. The sector should be prepared for potential funding cuts to programs and/or social services being downloaded. There could be other changes not outlined in the platform.

Helping organizations understand and advocate 

In addition to ABNN's analysis, there are a number of other analyses of political platforms - and we know there's more out there! ABNN has created a Nonprofit Public Policy Resources page as a compilation of these resources.  On this page, you’ll find ABNN’s Draft Policy Agenda, Government Position Resources (provincial and federal) and Public Policy Development/Advocacy Resources. 

We will continue to update these pages with platform information and resources for nonprofits. If your organization has any sector or subsector analyses, advocacy toolkits or public policy related information, we would love to include it on this page – please send it to us at info@albertanonprofits.ca.