Alberta Election Thread - Election Day April 16 2019

[ooogabooga]

We have a young child that has some developmental delays, specifically with his speech. I had posed a question about the FSCD program to all the candidates in my riding (Calgary - Elbow). Now I do believe I most aligned with the Alberta Party idea's to begin with, but that has only been further enhanced. As not only did Greg Clark personally respond to my question, he then followed it up with a personal phone call to discuss the issues. To be fair, I did send my question to all the candidates in my area, and haven't heard a reply from any of them.

[PaperBagger'14]

Maybe we can get mortgage forgiveness too, paying my mortgage every month is a real buzzkill.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

I'm not sure I buy the argument that it's better for the economy to have a larger working population. By that reasoning, shouldn't the government subsidize home cleaning services so more Albertans can hire people to clean their houses instead of doing it themselves?



Polls show most mothers would prefer to stay home with young children if they could afford to. So it may be more effective to combat declining birth rates with improved parental leave benefits, than with subsidized childcare.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/186050/...side-home.aspx

If house cleaning prevented one parent from working then yes that would be reasonable.

The basic argument is as follows: Assuming a job is available and the cost of child care is the reason that the person is staying home then the benefit of say a $6000 per year subsidy is worth it if that person and the fraction of the person who cares for the pays more than $6000 in taxes.

However the problem with this argument is that all these people who currently work and pay for childcare don’t provide this benefit. There is no benefit from subsidizing someone who already chooses to work. So I’m general unless this program is specifically targeted and means tested it becomes an expensive way to get the desired benefit of more labour participation.

[V]

Originally Posted by PaperBagger'14

Maybe we can get mortgage forgiveness too, paying my mortgage every month is a real buzzkill.

I can only imagine the amount of money I could pump into the economy if someone paid my mortgage for me.

[PsYcNeT]

I like how you're being sarcastic, but in a post-scarcity economy, that's how a universal basic income would effectively look.

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

I like how you're being sarcastic, but in a post-scarcity economy, that's how a universal basic income would effectively look.

I just get the image of some Stalin looking dude driving up to these gigantic concrete row houses in a military grade Volvo.

"Hello comrade, here is your state issued home, state issued furniture and state issued cat."

[AltaGuy]

Childcare has been a massive success in Quebec, with some challenges that I believe Alberta could improve upon: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opin...ticle34823036/

How much of the addition to subsidies from the childcare reform is recovered by the increase in net fiscal revenue stemming from so many more working women? One study figured out that some 40 per cent of the cost would be recovered by the increase in income and payroll taxes alone. Taking account of the long-term effects on all types of taxes, transfers and fiscal expenditures, colleagues from the University of Sherbrooke and I then found that the federal and provincial governments would get back much more than 100 per cent of the cost of the reform. In other words, the latter was, in fact, "paying for itself."

In its first 20 years of existence, Quebec's low-fee universal system has been extremely successful in achieving its quantitative target. It has allowed a large number of parents to accomplish a better work/life balance at no net cost for taxpayers.

[DownInFlames]

I've seen a few orange signs in rural areas that were just anti-Notley. I looked them up and they're from Rebel Media. If you go to the site on the sign it's mostly an ad for a book. It that legal? I'm not a fan of campaign signs on public property in general, but these are just an ad. Typical Rebel.

I also saw an NDP sign that was defaced. Someone wrote NOT on top of Notley's name. If they were clever wouldn't they just cross out the "ley"?

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by PaperBagger'14

"Hello comrade, here is your state issued home, state issued furniture and state issued cat."

Hold the phone, if someone starts offering state issued cats, consider my vote bought!

[V]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

I like how you're being sarcastic, but in a post-scarcity economy, that's how a universal basic income would effectively look.

Are we in a post-scarcity economy?

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by PaperBagger'14

Maybe we can get mortgage forgiveness too, paying my mortgage every month is a real buzzkill.

We already do, in the form of not paying capital gains when you sell.

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by Lubicon

We already do, in the form of not paying capital gains when you sell.

so if I can't get my mortgage payments forgiven or lessened until I sell, I don't think people should get student loan forgiveness until they retire.

fair is fair.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

The fact that you were able to "stay at home" is huge relative to the experience most of us had to go through in school.

You mean that "most" of you chose to. There will always be cases where people needed to leave a home for any number of valid or necessary reasons. But the vast majority of people who take on student loans don't come from broken homes or would otherwise fit those scenarios. For most, leaving home earlier is a choice, not a necessity.

There also comes a question of what you prioritized over time. How many big vacations did you take while paying down your debt? How many video games and other luxury goods did you buy?

[Burn13]

Originally Posted by AltaGuy

Childcare has been a massive success in Quebec, with some challenges that I believe Alberta could improve upon: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opin...ticle34823036/

Quebec just announced a $2.5B provincial surplus for 2018-19. Different then our situation.

They also will get $13.1 Billion in transfer payments from equalization. An increase of $1.4 Billion from the previous 3 yrs. Alberta will get ZERO for 2019-20. This is annually until 2021 when it is up for review again. Notley missed the review I guess this last July.

That a whole lot of different on what we can afford.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by Burn13

Quebec just announced a $2.5B provincial surplus for 2018-19. Different then our situation.

They also will get $13.1 Billion in transfer payments from equalization. An increase of $1.4 Billion from the previous 3 yrs. Alberta will get ZERO for 2019-20. This is annually until 2021 when it is up for review again. Notley missed the review I guess this last July.

That a whole lot of different on what we can afford.

Oh God, now we're blaming Notley for equalization payments.

[Burn13]

Originally Posted by Oling_Roachinen

Oh God, now we're blaming Notley for equalization payments.

Nope never said that. I'm not sure why the review period passed in July, but that is beside the point.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by Burn13

Nope never said that. I'm not sure why the review period passed in July, but that is beside the point.

Except....

Originally Posted by Burn13

This is annually until 2021 when it is up for review again. Notley missed the review I guess this last July.

Why bring up Notley at all? It's clearly you are insinuating something but the fact is it didn't matter if Kenney or a donkey were in power. It's a federal government policy that uses a specific formula that outside of minimal consultation the provinces have no control of. Also it's 2024 that the formula was extended to.

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by V

Are we in a post-scarcity economy?

We're getting there friend. Automation increases every year.

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

You mean that "most" of you chose to. There will always be cases where people needed to leave a home for any number of valid or necessary reasons. But the vast majority of people who take on student loans don't come from broken homes or would otherwise fit those scenarios. For most, leaving home earlier is a choice, not a necessity.

It's not always about broken homes, sometimes parents just don't think it's right for their kids to leech off of them post 18/21. Having your living situation subsidized (and possibly school costs) which likely also includes food is a massive burden taken off your shoulders when going to school.



In other news, yet another UCP candidate is in the news for the wrong reasons, this time because they believe that random men can walk into schools and use the girls washroom and changeroom without opposition.

[Burn13]

Originally Posted by Oling_Roachinen

Except....


Why bring up Notley at all? It's clearly you are insinuating something but the fact is it didn't matter if Kenney or a donkey were in power. It's a federal government policy that uses a specific formula that outside of minimal consultation the provinces have no control of. Also it's 2024 that the formula was extended to.

I'm insinuating that some provinces can afford certain items in their budget that other provinces can't at the current timeframe. No matter Quebec or PEI etc. When you have money obviously you can create a wealth of social programs to benefit your province.

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

We're getting there friend. Automation increases every year.



In other news, yet another UCP candidate is in the news for the wrong reasons, this time because they believ(ed) that random men can walk into schools and use the girls washroom and changeroom without opposition.

FYP. Another historical tweet story timed for today by Press Progress.

Tomorrow there will be another uncouth tweet from sometime in the past on another UCP candidate released, then another on Thursday, and so forth and so forth. If you did the same exercise on every poster on this board, then published their worst post among hundreds and thousands of posts you would end up with similarly bad takes.