^Very true, this is all simplistic, but I don't suggest that the production from hydro resources that benefits B.C. or Quebec should be re-appropriated to serve the citizens of Saskatchewan, either. At least, I see no immediately obvious moral imperative that would suggest it should be so. If there's a practical argument, so be it.
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Originally Posted by Makarov
Well, one could just as easily say that Quebec fell ass backwards into Equalization money.
This whole argument started when some posters started deriding Quebec because it used "free money" to lavishly spend on daycaee and higher education while hard working Alberta cannot afford to do the same. It is untrue.
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Isn't equalization the product of a transfer system that was imposed on a policy basis? Whereas resources physically exist within Alberta? I mean our ownership of resources sitting under the land we live on is a far more intuitive result, given the history of property law, than re-appropriating wealth to different territories based on... you know, I'm not exactly sure.
It's clearly untrue. Alberta could very easily make free daycare and cheaper post-secondary a higher priority than tax relief. I suppose my point is that I do not see "we should be a net payor of money to Quebec" as a starting point. I believe others in this thread have expressed similar views. Not surprisingly, as we are primarily situated in Alberta and that system works to our detriment. The opposite opinion would hold true in Quebec. It's ultimately a moral issue and the onus to establish why it is that we ought to be sending money to Quebec is on the proponents of the system.