'Extreme' opposition parties will hurt Alberta, Prentice says

Jim Prentice used a visit to a coal mine in Grande Cacheon Wednesday to pit the "realistic" Tory plan for solving Alberta's economic problems against the "extreme" views of the opposition.

Standingin front of several dozen workers at Grande Cache coal, the Progressive Conservative leader touted his plan for ending Alberta's dependence on oil revenues.

"Albertans have the opportunity to make a choice: a realistic, honest planor, frankly, betting our future on extreme ideas and ideologies," Prentice said.

He said one party would lay off nurses and teachers and cut projects such as the health centre in Edson and the paving ofHighway 40 while anotherparty would "wildly increase spending" in hopes of a rebound in the price of oiland raisetaxes oncorporations, a measure Prentice said would kill jobs and discourage investment.

Prenticealso slammed the NDP for wanting to increase the size of government, which he said would simply allow waste and inefficiency to continue.

Asked whether it was divisive to characterize the Wildrose and NDP parties as "extreme," Prentice side-stepped the question.

"I've challenged those parties on the extreme left and on the extreme right to tell Albertans what they would do; to be honest."

Prentice lived in Grande Cache as a teenager. He spoke about his family's roots in the the mountain town and his father's time working at Grande Cache Coal.