Alberta declines to donate to Haiti recovery yesterday; Now Donates 500 Grand Today

[RedHot25]

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/sto...red-cross.html

Alberta won't donate directly to agencies helping in Haiti recover from a devastating earthquake, although Premier Ed Stelmach is encouraging individuals to contribute to the cause.

The Alberta government donated $5 million to the Red Cross in 2004 to help victims of the Boxing Day tsunami that killed about 230,000 people in 14 Asian and African countries.

But Alberta won't be making a direct donation in the aftermath of Tuesday's earthquake in Haiti.

..........

Update: now, a day after apparently, AB has decided to donate money

From the same - now updated - story:
Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach promised $500,000 for earthquake relief in Haiti, a day after indicating the province wouldn't be directly donating to an aid agency.

Stelmach announced the donation to the Red Cross following a swearing-in ceremony for his new cabinet in Edmonton on Friday morning.

"We're going to send $500,000 to begin with. Secondly we are prepared to send any resources that we can, whether it be in health or in emergency management," he said. "We will work with the Red Cross … so that we get the best effort in place to ensure that we're looking after as many people as we can."

On Thursday, when asked how Alberta planned to help in Haiti, Stelmach told reporters that Alberta contributes to humanitarian aid in other ways, through grants and charitable tax deductions.

[mikey_the_redneck]

So what?
Freedom of choice........I am sure Haiti wouldn't be jumping to donate to Alberta if there were a disaster here..

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by mikey_the_redneck

So what?
Freedom of choice........I am sure Haiti wouldn't be jumping to donate to Alberta if there were a disaster here..

You are a terrible cliché of yourself.

[WilsonFourTwo]

What has happened in Haiti is incredible, the pictures and news show a country (specifically the capital) in total ruins - they need help.

That said, I think that I see Stelmach's thinking on this one. The AB Gov't finances are in the toilet, where's the money gonna come from? The Provincial Gov't has the duty to provide for it's citizens first, and since we're cutting health care, schools and essential services, can you really justify sending money somewhere else?

Personally, I'd rather have an extra 5 minute wait in the ER than watch tens of thousands get sick, go hungry, die, etc. That said, I wouldn't really argue against anyone who saw it the other way (take care of home first).

[Ducay]

Oh great, another non-issue that the opposition will turn into a massive bru-haha care of the media

[alltherage]

This is a little upsetting to me actually. I would love to see our gov't help them out down there. I know nothing about our budget or anything like that, so perhaps I'm just a misinformed tree-hugger, but I think in a province where every person receives $400 of "Ralph bucks" we can donate a little chunk of our wealth to a cause such as this.

[SeeGeeWhy]

Originally Posted by alltherage

This is a little upsetting to me actually. I would love to see our gov't help them out down there. I know nothing about our budget or anything like that, so perhaps I'm just a misinformed tree-hugger, but I think in a province where every person receives $400 of "Ralph bucks" we can donate a little chunk of our wealth to a cause such as this.

Nothing is stopping you from donating to the cause.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by mikey_the_redneck

So what?
Freedom of choice........I am sure Haiti wouldn't be jumping to donate to Alberta if there were a disaster here..

You're trying too hard.

[Ozy_Flame]

I would only worry about this if the aid relief as a whole was inadequate; apparently, it's some of the best relief work by the international community done in years. The U.S. Air Force is also in control of the airport at Port-Au-Prince, and is even said to be turning incoming planes away because there's so much aid coming in.

A non-issue, in my books.

[WilsonFourTwo]

Originally Posted by alltherage

This is a little upsetting to me actually. I would love to see our gov't help them out down there. I know nothing about our budget or anything like that, so perhaps I'm just a misinformed tree-hugger, but I think in a province where every person receives $400 of "Ralph bucks" we can donate a little chunk of our wealth to a cause such as this.

Regarding out current budget.....let's just say returning all of the Ralph Bucks (which was a popular but stupid thing in the first place) would hardly dent the current deficit. We're not broke like California is (literally selling office furniture and stationary) but we're currently in pretty rough shape for the time being.

Personally, I've always been of the "Take care of your own first" mentality. I think we should feed/shelter our homeless before sending troops to foreign soils, etc. That said, this isn't regime change. This isn't people getting what they deserve (not meant as cold as it sounds). This is by and large good people getting completely ######ed by some fluke of nature. As such, an argument can easily be made that we should help out.

All things being equal....Just because the Provincial Gov't isn't donating doesn't mean we can't still be the most generous province.

[Komskies]

Originally Posted by alltherage

This is a little upsetting to me actually. I would love to see our gov't help them out down there. I know nothing about our budget or anything like that, so perhaps I'm just a misinformed tree-hugger, but I think in a province where every person receives $400 of "Ralph bucks" we can donate a little chunk of our wealth to a cause such as this.

The "Ralph Bucks" were handed out in January 2006 when Alberta was sitting on a $6.8 billion surplus. Compare this with the $4.3 billion budget deficit we're expected to post in March, and we're looking at drastically different circumstances.

[Pastiche]

Originally Posted by mikey_the_redneck

So what?
Freedom of choice........I am sure Haiti wouldn't be jumping to donate to Alberta if there were a disaster here..

I really hope this post is a joke.

edit: re: post #14

Fail

[Azure]

We're running a multi-billion dollar budget and we can't donate $500,000 dollars?

Really?

I'm all for cuts and balancing the budget, etc, etc......but come on. We can afford this. I don't care if the deficit is $4 billion. We can still afford to help out.

[mikey_the_redneck]

Originally Posted by nik-

You're trying too hard.

No, I'm not. I genuinly feel that way.

I don't feel anyone should be obligated to donate to any certain cause. I did not donate to Haiti, does that make me a bad person? Maybe in some people's eyes..

[Azure]

Originally Posted by mikey_the_redneck

No, I'm not. I genuinly feel that way.

I don't feel anyone should be obligated to donate to any certain cause. I did not donate to Haiti, does that make me a bad person? Maybe in some people's eyes..

Nobody said we should be forced to donate. We're talking about less than 1% of our budget. Pennies for most people.

Why shouldn't we donate? These people need all the help they can get.

[Addick]

Originally Posted by WilsonFourTwo

That said, I think that I see Stelmach's thinking on this one. The AB Gov't finances are in the toilet, where's the money gonna come from? The Provincial Gov't has the duty to provide for it's citizens first, and since we're cutting health care, schools and essential services, can you really justify sending money somewhere else?

In my opinion, he's blown this in mutliple ways. On the political side, he was going to get criticized no matter what he did in this situation but I think he failed to ask himself the following question: after I make my move do I want to be seen as a heartless or compassionate fool? I think blowing $5M is a lot easier to forget then turning your back on a country that just got flattened.

On the philosophical/moral side, everybody is feeling the effects of the credit crunch and not only does that make it more important that we contribute because the pool is smaller but I also believe that we're in a better financial position than most and more able to help. Additionally, if we matched the amount of money we gave after the Boxing Day tsunami it would be just a drop in our bucket.

[HOOT]

$500,000 donated to people who are dying of starvation, lack of water, medical supplies and housing is about $0.14 per Albertan. Let's not kid ourselves this amount that could be found in almost any 'take a penny, leave a penny' around Alberta could help save thousands and thousands of children who's parents have died, been crippled, or are lost.

How can some people be so selfish they can't think of others who are struggling to live for FORTEEN CENTS! GO F--- YOURSELF!

[burn_this_city]

I love the it doesnt affect me why should I care people. When tragedy strikes them they'll wish someone cared about them.

[Komskies]

We'd be better off donating clean drinking water than donating money.

[mikey_the_redneck]

Originally Posted by Azure

Nobody said we should be forced to donate. We're talking about less than 1% of our budget. Pennies for most people.

Why shouldn't we donate? These people need all the help they can get.

I guess my problem is not about the donation itself, but making people feel bad about not donating is not right imo...