Quote:
Originally Posted by stone hands
Honest, not sarcastic question for anyone who thinks a referendum on equalization payments will be successful:
what is the outcome that you see happening? Can you tell me which provinces that you think Alberta can sway, and why?
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There seems to some confusion on Kenney's approach to the issue, here's the basics:
There's a clause from a Supreme Court Case of Quebec Secession in 1998 that states if a Province votes in favor of a referendum with a clear question that triggers immediate good faith negotiations on behalf of the Federal government in regards to that question. So voting on a referedum question on equalization obligates the Feds to negotiate, basically it just forces them to the table. So it's not about getting Provinces to join or lead a mutiny, just trying to make the Feds uncomfortable and make the case that if Alberta is continually unconstitutionally blocked from generating prosperity for the country we shouldn't be forced to pay disproportionately in to this program. The strong case for this for me isn't that I think or expect the formula to change, but to continue to put pressure on the Trudeau Libs of Canada's cash cow province making a stink and if they get the pipeline moving it all goes away.
Worth noting I think is that Kenney has said he's prepared
in principle to do this, he's not going to come in all guns a blazing first day and start enacting all this stuff. Certainly there's some downside to enacting this too, like a lot of things the UCP have proposed like stopping gasoline shipments to BC it's a high risk high reward weapon that you only get to shoot once. The biggest downside to me is that opening equalization and the constitution could bite us in the ass and make things worse, that's certainly possible.