http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/al...130/story.html
Quote:
Municipal Affairs Minister Doug Griffiths is facing heat for suggesting in the legislature Wednesday that urban dwellers in Alberta are leeches living off the work and resources of their country cousins.
“You could be asked by rural Albertans why 17 per cent of the population that lives in rural Alberta that has all the oil and gas revenue, does all the work, all the farms, all the agriculture and everything associated with it goes to support urban Albertans, who sit in highrise condos and don’t necessarily contribute to the grassroots of this economy,” he told the legislature.
[...]
Griffiths, who made the remark in response to a tax redistribution question from Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman, later told reporters that’s not his personal view, but the view of some rural Albertans.
“I’m pointing out what rural Albertans feel,” said Griffiths, MLA for the rural riding of Battle River-Wainwright.
[...]
Blakeman, MLA for the downtown riding of Edmonton Centre, was pointing out the inequity of a linear tax that provides $28 per capita in urban areas compared with nearly $2,000 per capita in rural areas. The Liberal MLA said she wanted the minister to redistribute nearly $1.5 billion in tax revenue more fairly.
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My take:
The "this is what other people say" aspect of his quote is true. However, anyone who thinks that should be told that condo dwellers are quite likely some of the people who get the least government spending for the tax revenue that they create. (I say quite likely because I don't have hard figures to back that up... Griffiths probably would so if he were to say it is quite likely that he would not have to temper his language as I did.)