Alberta as a Country

[JoseCuervo]

I know it wont happen and personally I dont want it to, but what if Alberta seperated from Canada. We could pave the streets with gold, all drive nice cars, and we wouldnt have to support the Maritimes (no longer Newfoundland though) and Onterrible.Would you guys support it?

[BlackArcher101]

No

[Boblobla]

WTF are the Marentines? Do you mean Maritimes? tbqh, we support Ontario and Quebec MUCH more then we do the small population of people that lives on the east coast...

[LChoy]

Nope. I'm Canadian first, Western Canadian/Albertan second

[Julio]

No

[Ford Prefect]

It's hard to believe this horse still has a pulse.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by JoseCuervo

I know it wont happen and personally I dont want it to, but what if Alberta seperated from Canada. We could pave the streets with gold, all drive nice cars, and we wouldnt have to support the Marentines (no longer Newfoundland though) and Onterrible.Would you guys support it?

It's never a good situation to be a landlocked country. It also wouldn't be ideal to be a small country of a few million wedged between one of 30 million and one of 300 million. Alberta would be bullied so much that it wouldn't be able to develop its own policies.

Even though Alberta might benefit economically for a while, eventually the oil boom will wear off. Look at Nova Scotia when coal and ship building were the big things. It was the strongest economy in North America.

Also, Alberta does not support Ontario.

[Gozer]

I'd support it only as a polictal bargaining chip to declare ourselves special and oblige Quebec to waste half their freaking cereal box with Alberta-centric dribble.

[Slava]

I guess when times are good here some people want to separate, but when times were tough here we were all happy to be along for the ride?

No way that this ever gets more than 20% serious support in my lifetime...and I'm happy to say that!

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

It's never a good situation to be a landlocked country. It also wouldn't be ideal to be a small country of a few million wedged between one of 30 million and one of 300 million. Alberta would be bullied so much that it wouldn't be able to develop its own policies.

Even though Alberta might benefit economically for a while, eventually the oil boom will wear off. Look at Nova Scotia when coal and ship building were the big things. It was the strongest economy in North America.

Also, Alberta does not support Ontario.

Ontario officially became a net deficit province in the equalization scheme of things this year. So technically, at the moment Alberta does support Ontario. However, this is the first time that has happened and I doubt it will last, so in reality it's not correct to state that.

I found it amusing though that Newfoundland became a "have" province at the same time that Ontario became a so-called "have not" province. Isn't that one of the signs of the apocalypse?

[JoseCuervo]

Yah Alberta Does support Ontario. we support everyone but Sask and NFL as they are the other Have provinces. And im not saying I want to seperate, it was just a question.

[MaDMaN_26]

Meh, silly question, only rednecks and ######s would think this is a good idea ...

*ducks*

[Resolute 14]

Get back to me if Dion ever wins an election.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Gozer

I'd support it only as a polictal bargaining chip to declare ourselves special and oblige Quebec to waste half their freaking cereal box with Alberta-centric dribble.

Thats the only reason to threaten separation, Quebec as used it as a bargining hammer for decades.

[troutman]

When would it end?

Northern Alberta doesn't understand us - let's seperate and form the independent nation of Southern Alberta.

The rural S. Albertan's don't understand us - let's form the independent City State of Calgary.

NE Calgary really does not "fit in" - etc . . . .

[worth]

I'm an Albertan first and Canadian second. Doesn't mean that it is a good idea though or that I support it.

[Hotchocolate4u]

I love this country with all its culture and history, I hope Alberta never seperates.

[Old Yeller]

Originally Posted by troutman

NE Calgary really does not "fit in" - etc . . . .

Hmmm... what do you propose?

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

WTF are the Marentines? Do you mean Maritimes? tbqh, we support Ontario and Quebec MUCH more then we do the small population of people that lives on the east coast...

No, we don't.

As for "supporting the Martimes", I assume you mean through the federal equalization program. I've ranted about this in the past, but I'll repeat my points here because the myth that Albertans are somehow harmed by equalization is still prevalent.

Equalization exists solely so that the provincial governments in every region can offer comparable levels of service to their citizens regardless of revenue-generating potential. This means that poorer provinces, such as PEI, can (in theory) deliver standards of healthcare and public education that are no worse than the richer provinces such as Alberta and Ontario.

So how does this benefit Alberta? Two ways:

1) If you, as an Albertan, are visiting another province for business or pleasure, and you suffer an accident that requires medical treatment, you can be assured that you'll receive professional healthcare service on par with what you would expect at home. Without equalization, poorer provinces would have third-world healthcare.

2) Hundreds of thousands of Canadians in "have not" provinces complete their education and then move elsewhere in the country. Many of them come to Alberta. Because of equalization, Albertan taxpayers would have foot the bill for a small portion of their education, but Alberta is now reaping the rewards of being able to attract Canadian citizens who speak English as their first language and have received an education comparable to an Alberta-born resident. With our current labour shortage, surely you can see the benefit in that.

To speak from a personal example (and my story is hardly unique), I moved to Alberta from New Brunswick at the age of 22 immediately after I graduated from university. The New Brunswick taxpayers contributed tens of thousands of dollars to provide me with an education, with taxpayers in Ontario and Alberta also covering a smaller portion of that cost through equalization payments. I have never paid income taxes in New Brunswick. On the other hand, since 2002 I've paid thousands of dollars in income taxes to the Alberta government as well as contributed to the Albertan economy though both my labour output and by spending money in this province. Because of equalization, Alberta was able to receive a skilled and educated citizen. Without equalization, this province would not have as large a pool of highly-educated Canadian workers to attract to help with our labour shortage.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by lchoy

Nope. I'm Canadian first, Western Canadian/Albertan second

Massive agreement over here. Personally I never got into the whole provincial pride thing. Probably the reason I can't stand the cfl.