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Old 04-14-2019, 01:38 PM   #2541
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A simple sales tax (gasp) could reduce the debt in no time...
Nothing is simple here. A "simple reduction is public service spending could reduce debt in no time", no? A "simple increase in provincial income tax rate could reduce debt in no time", no? Advocating for PST as a universal solution to deal with debt is same as asserting that simply pumping more oil from a well would make it more profitable. It's nonsense. To get more from the people, governments must assure first they have more to give.
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Old 04-14-2019, 01:54 PM   #2542
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Caring about kids means not leaving them with heath and education deficits, a one-trick economy, and a climate catastrophe.
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Or massive debt that cripples the financial ability to provide all those other things.

It doesn’t have to by either/or, in fact they have to go together. Sustainable health and education programs can only occur if the financial health of the province is being managed judiciously.
We weren’t exactly providing those things before we took on the debt either.

A big chunk of the debt we’ve accumulated has gone towards infrastructure that if we didn’t put in place the next generation would have to pay for at a much higher price anyways. That isn’t to say that every dollar of our debt has been money well spent or that it shouldn’t/couldn’t have been kept lower, however when your population continues to grow regardless of how the economy is performing expecting to only expand necessary infrastructure when it can be done without borrowing money isn’t always a good long term strategy.

Our province should have raised taxes when things were booming so that we could have made the investments we needed after years of austerity without significantly impacting the economy and also put money away for when the bubble burst. Instead we chose at that time to keep the province living paycheque to paycheque and now we’re stuck trying to fix it without the help of oil and gas.
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Old 04-14-2019, 02:28 PM   #2543
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A simple sales tax (gasp) could reduce the debt in no time.

Also, so-called fiscal conservative governments here and elsewhere have show an inability to reduce debt.
Before we introduce a sales tax we have to get the NDP to understand it's not more tax revenue they can spend. With this years election campaign she has given no indication that she wants to reign in her spending. The debt level would continue to increase should she get relected.
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Old 04-14-2019, 02:44 PM   #2544
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I'm of the point of view where I would be fine with a sales tax, though with the level of unemployment and other economic issues, it could hurt just as much.


I'm not fine with the NDP administering our money anymore,they've shown that they don't understand the concepts of budgeting and forecasting and I just don't trust them with the provincial budget anymore. I mean who knows the UCP might be worse if they win, but we already have evidence laid out that the NDP are complete bozo's when it comes to finance.
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Old 04-14-2019, 03:01 PM   #2545
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No more taxes. Sorry. The Government, past and present, have shown themselves to be shamefully poor stewards of our collective funds.

The Government, whomever they should be, need to get their house in order. This is the polite way of saying that they should get their poop in a group. Which is also a polite way of saying they should get their #### together.

If the NDP can take in huge sums of cash from foreign interests in order to screw us over and sewer Albertan Oil then they can at least spend that cash in Alberta. I mean...representing us was kind of why they were elected. At least a little?

Whether its hiring more useless Government support workers that we dont have an obscene excess of, or whatever, they can at least funnel their ill-gotten gains our way.
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Old 04-14-2019, 03:08 PM   #2546
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I'm of the point of view where I would be fine with a sales tax, though with the level of unemployment and other economic issues, it could hurt just as much.

I'm not fine with the NDP administering our money anymore,they've shown that they don't understand the concepts of budgeting and forecasting and I just don't trust them with the provincial budget anymore. I mean who knows the UCP might be worse if they win, but we already have evidence laid out that the NDP are complete bozo's when it comes to finance.
A great example is the Carbon Tax. It was originally created to go towards green projects but now it goes into general revenue where she can spend it on whatever she wants. Some debt is fine but what she has done is ridiculous.
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Old 04-14-2019, 03:10 PM   #2547
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No more taxes. Sorry. The Government, past and present, have shown themselves to be shamefully poor stewards of our collective funds.

The Government, whomever they should be, need to get their house in order. This is the polite way of saying that they should get their poop in a group. Which is also a polite way of saying they should get their #### together.

If the NDP can take in huge sums of cash from foreign interests in order to screw us over and sewer Albertan Oil then they can at least spend that cash in Alberta. I mean...representing us was kind of why they were elected. At least a little?

Whether its hiring more useless Government support workers that we dont have an obscene excess of, or whatever, they can at least funnel their ill-gotten gains our way.
You would probably make a decent accountant
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Old 04-14-2019, 03:21 PM   #2548
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A great example is the Carbon Tax. It was originally created to go towards green projects but now it goes into general revenue where she can spend it on whatever she wants. Some debt is fine but what she has done is ridiculous.
At least they fixed that.

A Carbon tax as a slush fund to reduce CO2 is a recipe for boondoggles where the government picks losers. Ie 200 million to change light bulbs.

Putting in general revenues forces all programs to compete with each other for dollars. Ideally when the Carbon tax was implemented it should have been 100% rebated or other taxes lowered however Alberta has been under taxed relative to its service levels for quite some time.

Kenny is foolish to cut the Carbon tax. He should keep the revenue to balance the budget.
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Old 04-14-2019, 03:24 PM   #2549
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Nothing is simple here. A "simple reduction is public service spending could reduce debt in no time", no? A "simple increase in provincial income tax rate could reduce debt in no time", no? Advocating for PST as a universal solution to deal with debt is same as asserting that simply pumping more oil from a well would make it more profitable. It's nonsense. To get more from the people, governments must assure first they have more to give.
I respectfully disagree...Alberta has been using natural resource royalties to fund Government operations for decades INSTEAD OF FILLING UP THE HERITAGE FUND.

Albertans have been mortgaging their future to avoid modest sales taxes...it is, IMHO, dumb. If the contributions to the Heritage Fund had been left the way Lougheed created them, the current recession would have been addressed with a HUGE wealth fund.

A modest consumption based tax (sales tax) would be a very reasonable tool for Albertans to utilize...but we are too dogmatic (to our own detriment)
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Old 04-14-2019, 04:00 PM   #2550
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I respectfully disagree...Alberta has been using natural resource royalties to fund Government operations for decades INSTEAD OF FILLING UP THE HERITAGE FUND...
Fortunately, we do not have Putin-, Gaddafi- or Arafat-like rulers, who blatantly steal money from their own people to enrich themselves. Alberta (and Canada, in general) are still governed in a reasonably law-abiding, democratic manner. While government corruption does exist on a favour and political quid-pro-quo basis, it is mostly ideological and not prevalent. "Funding Government operations" to quote from your post is an undeserved accusation. Over the past 50 years or so, Alberta Governments funded its operations for perceived people's benefit within the belief system and ideology of the ruling parties. Klein died a poor man.

I blame all Alberta governments for only one thing: not investing heavily in diversifying energy industry as much as possible, when times were plenty. Even now, instead of investing in petrochemical processing to manufacture stuff here or into processing exhaust fumes to make oil/gas burn cleaner, they make those inspired faces and talk out of their asses about making Alberta a Canadian Silicon Valley. Sometimes, I honestly think that often the dumbest choose to go into politics, because they cannot make living doing anything else.

Heritage Fund was intended as a piggy bank for rainy days. But saving more means spending less on public needs. All governments prior to Notley's have been accused by the public of spending not enough. This political dilemma is never simple or easy to solve without sacrifices and iterations of balancing.

Economically, the route to prosperity goes through balancing. First, you balance the house: reduce spending of the public dollars to match the current tax revenues at both provincial and municipal levels. Second, you reduce public spending even further to allow for debt repayment within a reasonable timeframe. Third, you give it some time to see which areas of public service start suffering quality issues caused by spending reductions (it should not be a direct correlation). And only then, you offer people a choice to get more/better services in exchange for more taxes.

P.S. F...k Norway, by the way.
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Old 04-14-2019, 04:03 PM   #2551
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I'm intrigued by the idea of an agressive 'goods' tax (groceries and other necessities exempted), that does not apply to services.

Part of this is a personal philosophy of reducing consumption of physical goods, which I think is an adjustment that would be good for all of us. Obviously, provision of most services requires physical goods, so costs of services would increase to some extent, but I think it would be a step in the right direction in terms of incentivizing decisions. Money spent consuming services is recirculated into the local economy far more efficiently than money spent on goods...

This actually isn't far off of how carbon taxes play out, but I see it as a more holistic approach to many societal issues. Experiences (memories) have lasting impacts on peoples' happiness; most goods actually end up weighing us down.
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Old 04-14-2019, 05:01 PM   #2552
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https://twitter.com/user/status/1117097094441885698


https://twitter.com/user/status/1117460478718955527


Edit missed posting the second tweet from VK



So beyond the economic factors for the NDP, I'm very much disturbed by the link to foreign funding and the NDP campaign that also reaches to appointees by Notley who had received a lot of money from Tides USA.



Notley can talk about the disturbing allegations against Kenney, and I'm also very disturbed by them, but I have to say that this is very much as bad if Notley is benefiting from opponents to the Alberta Energy Sector in terms of campaigning and in terms of people within her own government receiving support from anti-oilsands groups.


This whole election is about what seems to be reprehensible politicians.


I'm going to be happy to see Notley go on Tuesday, I don't think she was a good steward of the economy or taxpayer dollars. I thought that her level of "Fight" for pipelines was lacking and in complete, and now the links to groups like Leadnow, progress, and the appointing of people like Brian Topps and Berman, as well as her silence on Bill C-69 and C-48 until pretty much halfway through the campaign, makes me feel that the best thing for the province is to move on from her and the NDP.


I'm not wild about Kenney either, and think some of his ideas are deeply flawed and probably won't do anything be cause splits in the relationship between Alberta and Ottawa, however I'm firmly convinced that those splits are going to happen no matter what, especially if Justin Trudeau gets another mandate in October.


I haven't seen enough from the Alberta Party, to me they've been a bit flaccid in an election that they needed to show some strength and reach, I think that Mandal was a horrible choice for party leader, and he needs to be replaced and a strong building program has to happen for that party as they struggle from going from an after thought or fringe party into a party that could be a threat to power.


The Liberal Party, yeah its great that they have a leader who's a former astronaut, Oilfield worker, constitutional lawyer who flew F-4's during Desert Storm, but he's just a political non entity.


This is an election without choices, where you almost need to spin a price is right style wheel to make your choice.


All I can hope is that as many Albertan's go out and check a box no matter what their beliefs are. This is your only opportunity to really stand up and be heard and have an effect on things. You might think you don't but you do.


So if you want to protest vote, please protest vote
If you want to vote based on your local MLA, that's awesome
If you want to strategically vote, at least your voting.
But don't sit at home and not vote and then complain about the government and its actions afterwords.
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Old 04-14-2019, 06:18 PM   #2553
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A simple sales tax (gasp) could reduce the debt in no time.

Also, so-called fiscal conservative governments here and elsewhere have show an inability to reduce debt.
GST was put in place to kill our debt too across Canada. How has that worked out? Should it of worked? Absolutely! Yet it gives a government more tax dollars to spend.

I am fine with a sales tax that pays off debt. It should be used to pay off debt only. Excess funds go into the heritage fund. Yet that wont happen!

Carbon tax? How has that worked out? Epic failure!

Soon there will be a tax on eating fast food too. Government will screw this up too.

We need less government not more!
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Old 04-14-2019, 06:36 PM   #2554
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Old 04-14-2019, 06:51 PM   #2555
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Next premier faces rallies, protests and conspiracy theories: pundits


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Political pundits say whichever party wins Tuesday’s provincial election will have to deal with mounting opposition from both political rivals and dejected voters, after a hard-fought — and sometimes nasty — campaign.

With negative attack ads, social media mining for buried so-called Bozo eruptions and polls showing a tightening race between Jason Kenny’s United Conservative Party and Rachel Notley’s New Democrats, Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt is calling this “the most unique election in Alberta’s history.”
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With polls showing the UCP holding on to a lead, Bratt said Kenney would likely face an unusually strong official opposition even if the UCP win majority government, due to NDP cabinet ministers retaining their ridings.

“In this case, the NDP could have eight to 12 to whatever number of cabinet members facing off with (the UCP) with a firm handle on their portfolios in opposition, so that’s something we haven’t seen in this province before,” Bratt said.
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Ellis also said he predicts a UCP-led Alberta would face “non-stop protests like we see in the United States” by voters on the left, and a continuation of “gutter politics,” mudslinging and attack ads, which have dominated the NDP’s campaign strategy.

“There are just some people that are going to refuse to accept Kenney as premier and they will be protesting immediately, and then there will be demonstrations. So that’s what Kenney’s going to have to deal with,” he said.
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As for suggestions on what course corrections the winning party should make once taking office, Bratt said Kenney may need to be a bit less bullish when dealing with Ottawa and B.C. or risk “retaliation” he may not be expecting, including a sudden federal reversal on the Trans Mountain pipeline.

Ellis said Notley would have to “scrap the carbon tax” and rein in spending to win over conservatives, while Kenney should be “magnanimous” and adopt an “all is forgiven” stance with the NDP.
https://calgarysun.com/news/local-ne...e-b220255582c6
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Old 04-14-2019, 06:56 PM   #2556
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That last sentence . . . Not a chance in the world, Kenney is going to use the NDP as a scapegoat for every misgiving and shortcoming he encounters as Premier
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Old 04-14-2019, 07:13 PM   #2557
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Interesting to hear what former Premier Alison Redford has to say... Plus the other panelists.

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Old 04-14-2019, 07:31 PM   #2558
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Quote is from a parody Bill Murray account, but hey why not add to your post count.
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Looks like you'll need one long before I will. May I suggest deflection king?
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Old 04-14-2019, 07:45 PM   #2559
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Quote is from a parody Bill Murray account, but hey why not add to your post count.
The only that seems to be concerned about post counts is you. Maybe you could tell me what I have
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Old 04-14-2019, 07:51 PM   #2560
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The only that seems to be concerned about post counts is you. Maybe you could tell me what I have
Did you vote Alberta party both times you voted?
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Looks like you'll need one long before I will. May I suggest deflection king?
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