[GT] Alberta Votes 2023.

[zamler]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

Yet another entry in the "I have no idea how Equalization actually works, but I sure am angry about it!" file.

Since 1960, Alberta has received more money than it paid out once, in 2020. Of note, Alberta has by far the highest GDP per capita of any province. Quebec has received in total 220 billion directly from Alberta.

[Tron_fdc]

I work in Quebec (albeit not as much since covid). All the way from Montreal through to Val D'or.

No one there cares about Alberta. The ONLY time someone even remotely cared was when I was at the local Couche Tard and the guy behind the till asked if Alberta was trying to build pipelines through Quebec.

They care about as much as Alberta cares about Rossland or Moosejaw.

[Fuzz]

No wonder people vote UCP, they are too ignorant to understand how anything works, and really don't care at all, as long as it supports their imaginary positions.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Matata

"But the money goes into a pot and is fairly distributed" lolz.

Fair is a pretty subjective term but it’s not as if we don’t know what the formula is. If it wasn’t being distributed as per the formula I could see your point and while an argument can be made that the formula should or could be changed calling the existing payments unfair is essentially making the same argument that dads who don’t want to pay child support make because they don’t think it’s “fair” despite the fact that it’s a predetermined formula that any lawyer could have warned them about before they got into the situation they did.

[Matata]

If we stopped equalization payments I wouldn't care about quebec either.


If we stopped equalization payments do you think quebec wouldn't notice?

[BoLevi]

It's going to take a constitutional crisis to fix confederation...and I think Smith is just unhinged enough to drive us into one.

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by zamler

Since 1960, Alberta has received more money than it paid out once, in 2020. Of note, Alberta has by far the highest GDP per capita of any province. Quebec has received in total 220 billion directly from Alberta.

Does that include the extra money that Ontario and Quebec had to spend on oil under the National Oil Policy or is that net of the National Oil Policy?

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by zamler

Since 1960, Alberta has received more money than it paid out once, in 2020. Of note, Alberta has by far the highest GDP per capita of any province. Quebec has received in total 220 billion directly from Alberta.

Quebec has never received one single dollar "directly from Alberta". Quebec* receives Equalization money from the federal government, to which taxpayers from every province and territory -- including Quebec itself -- contribute funding. Some provinces are net contributors to confederation (historically this has been Ontario, Alberta, and BC most years). Other provinces are net recipients. Overall, the Equalization program makes Canada a better country as a whole, unless you're a FYGM Albertan who is fine with citizens of poorer provinces having third-rate infrastructure, education, and healthcare systems.

*And also PEI, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Manitoba, but no Albertan ever complains about those provinces receiving Equalization money.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Matata

If we stopped equalization payments I wouldn't care about quebec either.

If we stopped equalization payments do you think quebec wouldn't notice?

And how would that work, exactly? Is there a day we send them a cheque, and we could just not send them a cheque?

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

No wonder people vote UCP, they are too ignorant to understand how anything works, and really don't care at all, as long as it supports their imaginary positions.

Look at conservative voters in pretty much any country on Earth. Canada, US, UK, Australia, Brazil, Turkey, it's ignorance all the way down. If people simply educated themselves a little more the planet would be in a far better place than it is now

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by Matata

If we stopped equalization payments do you think quebec wouldn't notice?

Probably not since you could then see an increase in federal transfers to Quebec. The equalization formula restricts the way the government can distribute funds between the provinces. Stop equalization payments, the feds have more unrestricted money they could find ways to distribute to Quebec instead if they wanted to.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by zamler

Since 1960, Alberta has received more money than it paid out once, in 2020. Of note, Alberta has by far the highest GDP per capita of any province. Quebec has received in total 220 billion directly from Alberta.

nope

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Matata

If we stopped equalization payments I wouldn't care about quebec either.


If we stopped equalization payments do you think quebec wouldn't notice?

How are you going to get buy in from the rest of the country to stop equalization and in 100 years when oil and gas is potentially not as big of an economic driver as they are today where would that leave a one trick pony oil and gas province economically?

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

nope

Ya Quebec received the Ontario and BC money. Alberta’s money went to Saskatchewan and Manitoba and some of the Atlantic provinces.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by Ford Prefect

My daughter is a teacher in a rural public school district. This election likely spells the end of her teaching career. She loves teaching and loves kids, but the crap from above has already been too much to take, and it’s going to get worse. She has two degrees, one in eduction and one in environmental science, so she other options, including teaching federal inmates, which pays better, has a better pension and believe it or not, less bureaucratic bs than public education in this province. Pity. A young teacher with two degrees, a passion for teaching and a desire to teach in a rural setting will be a loss to the kids.

That's by design, to a large extent. It's not a coincidence that the leader of Take Back Alberta is a 34-year old homeschooled neckbeard who has described the idea of women deciding to have fewer or no kids as "anti-human". To a lot of these people, teachers and a modern education system are the enemy.

[ynwa03]

Originally Posted by zamler

Reeducation camps.

They obviously don’t need to be called that, but sure.

They can be called anything really, the point is the same.

Maybe Civic Pride Course where you graduate and earn a licence to vote. Or Advanced Citizenship Program.

Keep in mind the idea is to educate people and weed out bigotry at the source.

Might sounds crazy, but drastic times call for drastic measures.

[zamler]

Originally Posted by ynwa03

They obviously don’t need to be called that, but sure.

They can be called anything really, the point is the same.

Maybe Civic Pride Course where you graduate and earn a licence to vote. Or Advanced Citizenship Program.

Keep in mind the idea is to educate people and weed out bigotry at the source.

Might sounds crazy, but drastic times call for drastic measures.

Your views are incredibly dangerous. Unfortunately you lack the capacity to understand why.

[edslunch]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

And how would that work, exactly? Is there a day we send them a cheque, and we could just not send them a cheque?

One of the UCP's ideas is to create a provincial revenue agency to collect all taxes from Albertans, then withhold a portion of the federal taxes collected to compensate for equalization. There's your constitutional crisis.

[BoLevi]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

Quebec has never received one single dollar "directly from Alberta". Quebec* receives Equalization money from the federal government, to which taxpayers from every province and territory -- including Quebec itself -- contribute funding. Some provinces are net contributors to confederation (historically this has been Ontario, Alberta, and BC most years). Other provinces are net recipients. Overall, the Equalization program makes Canada a better country as a whole, unless you're a FYGM Albertan who is fine with citizens of poorer provinces having third-rate infrastructure, education, and healthcare systems.

*And also PEI, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Manitoba, but no Albertan ever complains about those provinces receiving Equalization money.

You can decide for yourself whether a wealth transfer from Alberta to Quebec (via the feds) is a good thing or not.

But you can't deny that the wealth transfer exists.

[Makarov]

I've never understood why people get worked up about equalization. The only reason why Albertans pay more and receive less is because Alberta is (unfairly) blessed with far more natural resources than any other province. That's the whole point of the program: to remedy the unfair distribution of natural resources in Canada.