A mixed bag of opportunities awaits Alberta's small-business sector when the province heads to the polls next month.

With the provincial election looming March 3, the political agenda for the province's business community consists of a variety of electoral promises that range from cutting red tape, re-regulating electricity to creating jobs in the environmental sector.

But which party is rolling out the red carpet for small business?

"I think it comes down to an issue of credibility," says David Taras, a political analyst with the University of Calgary.

"It's the person or party voters will see as having the most credibility - a combination of policy and track record and ultimately, who can bring the changes voters seem to want."

All the parties have agreed to dump Alberta health-care premiums, meaning businesses - which tend to foot the premium costs for their employees - would soon have that money back in their coffers.

The Alberta Liberals, Alberta Greens, Alberta New Democratic Party and the Wildrose Alliance all say they will cut health-care premiums shortly after coming into power.

However, the Progressive Conservatives plan to phase out the premiums over a four-year period; sooner, they say, if the province's financial situation allows.

Not all small businesses are benefiting from the robust economy, the provincial New Democrats say.

"Some of them are really struggling because of the labour shortage and know how hard it is to get quality employees in a tight labour market," says Lou Arab, the NDP's deputy campaign director.

In addition to cutting health-care premiums and promising to scrap electricity deregulation, the NDP plans to review what it calls excessively high premiums for general and liability business insurance.

The Green Party, meanwhile, says its environmentally friendly platform does not mean that the party is anti-business.

"One of the misconceptions about the Green Party is that we're anti-growth and nothing could be further from the truth," says Alberta Greens Leader George Read. "What the Green Party is concerned about is what we're growing."

Two Green platform planks are aimed directly at small business, which Read calls the engine of the economy and the key to creating jobs in the province.

He wants to see different, innovative approaches to creating more small businesses.

The party also believes in tax shifting - taking taxes or penalties raised from companies with polluting technologies and using that money as an incentive to transition to greener practices, while creating more opportunities for small business.

The Wildrose Alliance says it will cut the corporate tax rate from 10 per cent to eight per cent, in addition to eliminating health-care premiums in its first 30 days in power.

It would also slash red tape and improve the education system, saying the latter is necessary if Alberta is to aggressively compete in a 21st-century economy.

The Alberta Liberals are focusing on eliminating health-care premiums, re-regulating electricity prices and extending provincial automobile insurance to cover commercial vehicles.

Edmonton-Rutherford Liberal candidate Rick Miller, who is also a small businessman and the party's shadow minister for finance, says the party wants to put money back into the pockets of small business.

He says the Liberals will also expand the provincial nominee program to help ensure that valued foreign workers sponsored by their employers can become permanent residents more easily.

Meanwhile, the governing Tories are promising a business-friendly agenda that includes maintaining the province's competitive tax advantage, developing sector-specific strategies to address labour needs for the forestry, transportation and the volunteer sectors, as well as increasing Aboriginal participation in the workforce.

In Calgary, the group that represents junior oil and gas producers says the Tories' new royalty framework - which involves increases of 20 per cent on average starting in 2009 - remains the key issue for their members, if not the general public.

"It was discussed by the party leaders the first couple of days of the campaign and it hasn't really surfaced since," says Gary Leach, executive director of the Small Explorers and Producers Association of Canada.

Leach notes that polls show average Albertans are more concerned with other matters such as health and education. "At this point, we frankly don't expect a lot of progress (on the royalty issue) during the election campaign," says Leach.

He says juniors, which account for 60 per cent of all new exploration wells while major players focus on the oilsands, have been "disproportionately hurt" by the revisions, which are designed to collect $1.4 billion more per year from companies.

"It certainly has been difficult for the juniors, because the investment capital that they rely on has turned sharply negative on Alberta in terms of investing in further oil and gas exploration," says Leach. "The juniors are a huge force in exploration in Alberta ... If they can't raise capital, they can't continue to look for oil and gas."

The Tories may ignore such issues at their peril, according to pundits.

"There is a swirl of discontent and a mood for change," notes political analyst Taras, who predicts the cities will be the battleground for votes.

"The danger for Mr. Stelmach is he is running against expectations - expectations are a Conservative premier should be able to dominate. He is running not so much against the opposition as he is running against a number and the number is 50 seats. If he gets more than 50 seats, he certainly is safe as leader. Below 50 seats, the Conservatives are going to get very nervous (of) his leadership."

Edmonton-based political scientist James Lightbody has a slightly different view.

"I think small business would be hard-pressed to vote enthusiastically for the Conservative party, because I know folks out there are struggling," says Lightbody, a professor at the University of Alberta. "In a small business, you can't fly by the seat of your pants, as this government has for a decade."

- with files from Monte Stewart (Laura Severs can be reached at laura@businessedge.ca)