Alberta Politics & Government Thread 4.0

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

Situated between some imaginary lines and suddenly oil revenue is his. Just a horrible perspective to live under. Hate those people.

Originally Posted by DJones

Just spent two days explaining how and why I think sales and property taxes should be the basis of our tax system and I get a "lol obviously the current system is best" response.

#### off and go read anything

I'm a full blown Georgist who would love to go all in on LVT and Pigouvian taxes. But it seems that's the only common ground we share.


Sadly the proliferation of direct deposit (among many other reasons) makes it unlikely we ever move away from income taxes. Because income taxes are basically invisible now; people's only exposure to them is filing once a year and then typically getting a refund (yay!).

For anyone wishing we could better tax corporations and wealth in general, taxing land (and only land - improvements on the land should be encouraged, not punished!) is the most effective way to do both.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by DJones

Yes obviously I meant individually

Now look up next federal tax transfers

Individual A earning $100k in Alberta pays $13,642 in federal tax leaving them $86,358 to cover their provincial, local, and personal liabilities.

Individual B earning $100k in BC pays $13,642 in federal tax leaving them $86,358 to cover their provincial, local, and personal liabilities.

Individual P earning $100k in PEI pays $13,642 in federal tax leaving them $86,358 to cover their provincial, local, and personal liabilities.

you see where I'm going. Except...

Individual Q earning $100k in Quebec pays $11,322 in federal tax leaving them $88,678 to cover their provincial, local, and personal liabilities!?!?!?!

It's an outrage! Except its just that Quebec opted out of certain federal programs and runs their own versions out of their provincial budget. Maybe that's a better deal for some Quebecers (like those who take parental leave), maybe it's not for others. Who gives a ####.

[para transit fellow]

Originally Posted by DJones

I am libertarian.. every single social program should be voluntary.

I have met several victims of drunk drivers who had no choice in the resulting disabilities that required access to social service programs.

Spinal cord injuries, horrible traumatic Brian injuries, and an amputation

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by para transit fellow

Spinal cord injuries, horrible traumatic Brian injuries, and an amputation

Poor Brian, guy just can't catch a break.


But where do social programs begin and end. Is the justice system opt-in and voluntary? If it isn't, where does that begin and end. Are rehabilitation programs part of it? If I'm the drunk driver, surely I'd want to sign up for the least punitive coverage policy possible, no?

[#-3]

Originally Posted by DJones

#### man, look up what libertarian means..it's the opposite of authoritarian.

90 percent of roads are built by private industry btw

In my experience libertarian is synonyms with a person who has yet to gaIn the prospective required to understand the societal structures have have enabled basically everything in their life, right down to their very existence.

Any thinking person who seeks a base level understanding of how they have acquired anything they have physical or intangible would clearly understand how flawed libertarianism is conceptually, you are not self made, nothing you have exists without a social society, I know this for a fact, because you area modern human using the internet.

Also libertarianism is historically pretty heavily linked to authoritarianism, because it is an excuse for the wealthy and powerful to absolve themselves of the social responsibility that comes from reaping the benefits of society at the highest level. Once the rehtoric only goes so far, or you find yourself needing to govern that society with your libertarian ideals, you find the only way to square the circle is to put those damn people who expect you to contribute to social society in exchange for all of those things society does for you in their place.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

For anyone wishing we could better tax corporations and wealth in general, taxing land (and only land - improvements on the land should be encouraged, not punished!) is the most effective way to do both.

I'd settle for large landowners paying provincial property taxes at the same rates the rest of us pay. Right now farmland is assessed using a complicated formula which is designed to disguise the fact that it's assessed at like a 90% discount to it's actual value.

[puffnstuff]

How a New Hampshire libertarian utopia was foiled by bears

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-polit...ngoltz-hetling

[Fuzz]

Faith-based health-care providers are allowed to have policies prohibiting MAID. That means patients who want an assisted death, like Hume, need to be transferred to another facility that allows the procedure, in what are called forced transfers.

In the end, the family didn’t make the decision for him. He passed away in hospital that afternoon of Sept. 5, six hours before his 6:30 p.m. appointment for MAID. He was 79.

“My dad would be horrified to find out that he went to a faith-based place and his final wishes were dictated by a religion that he didn't even believe in,” Stacey told Dr. Brian Goldman, host of CBC’s White Coat, Black Art.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/whitecoat/m...hume-9.7093721

This is absolute ####ing bull####, and it's a travesty our leaders have permitted religions to decide healthcare, funded by taxpayer dollars. We treat dying dogs better than this. Why the #### do we have publicly funded hospitals that cater to ONE religion? How is that not discriminatory? Why are they so goddamned special? I know, I know...history. Well it's time to stop living in the past. ####ing sky wizards. Unreal delusions.

[Doctorfever]

https://canada.constructconnect.com/...chool-projects

Fast tracking 4 school projects.

The Alberta government has announced it is accelerating four previously announced school projects to meet population growth demands.

In Calgary, two francophone schools in the city’s north are moving from the planning to the design phase, and a public charter school in Quarry Park is advancing from design to construction, a release reads. In St. Albert, a new Kindergarten to Grade 9 public school in the Chérot neighbourhood is now approved to move into the design phase.

The projects are part of the School Construction Accelerator Program, which is investing $8.6 billion to build and renovate more than 130 schools across the province and speeding up the school construction process. This is the fifth batch of school accelerations since the creation of the program in 2024.

Nine new or modernized schools have opened to students, since the program’s inception, adding or updating almost 6,000 student spaces across Alberta, the release adds.

More than 120 school projects are currently underway across the province.

[Looch City]

Nice, I'll for sure be voting UCP again because of this! Amazing work. Truly the best.

[White Out 403]

[DJones]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Did you even read what you were responding to?

Link is completely unrelated to what I assume is AI generated information showing several have not provinces as net donors. Does that not make you question it? Who posts a link to information that is completely unrelated to the stats they post haha

https://lop.parl.ca/sites/PublicWebs...ations/202303E

If you are fine with Alberta subsidizing the rest of the country and think its patriotic or whatever. That's great, feel good about it. But using bad information to try to hide the fact its happening is wild.

2020 numbers, Figure 3, federal revenues per capita. Alberta is ~20% over the national average and about 10% higher than BC/Ontario in second place.

Figure 5, Alberta in last place for federal expenditures outside of major transfers.

[Flacker]

Originally Posted by DJones

Did you even read what you were responding to?

Link is completely unrelated to what I assume is AI generated information showing several have not provinces as net donors. Does that not make you question it?

https://lop.parl.ca/sites/PublicWebs...ations/202303E

If you are fine with Alberta subsidizing the rest of the country and think its patriotic or whatever. That's great, feel good about it. But using bad information to try to hide the fact its happening is wild.

2020 numbers, Figure 3, federal revenues per capita. Alberta is ~20% over the national average and about 10% higher than BC/Ontario in second place.

Figure 5, Alberta in last place for federal expenditures outside of major transfers.

Why do you feel entitled to more than any other Canadian because you were born inside of artificial geopolitical lines, that happens to be resource rich? It has nothing to do with being patriotic, it's called being a Canadian, and knowing the resources in no way belong to you.

[Looch City]

Man, being a 'libertarian' must be absolutely exhausting lol

[DJones]

Originally Posted by Flacker

Why do you feel entitled to more than any other Canadian because you were born inside of artificial geopolitical lines, that happens to be resource rich? It has nothing to do with being patriotic, it's called being a Canadian, and knowing the resources in no way belong to you.

Everything is artificial geopolitical lines. People attach their own values to those artificial lines.

Personally, I attach values on a basis of Family > Community > City >Area> Province > Region> country.

I honestly can't imagine seeing it any other way. People near you are more important than people further away and I naturally want decision making and tax revenue to remain as close as possible to me.

[puffnstuff]

Originally Posted by Looch City

Man, being a 'libertarian' must be absolutely exhausting lol

Its because you have to keep setting the goalposts up and then moving them, setting them up again, moving them...

[Fuzz]

If you aren't strong on the right of that equation, the left side fundamentally collapses. You can't have the stuff on the left without the stuff on the right, in a modern world. Ultimately, they all are important, but you only care about the one on the far left, and you noticeably left it off your list.

[para transit fellow]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/whitecoat/m...hume-9.7093721

This is absolute ####ing bull####, and it's a travesty our leaders have permitted religions to decide healthcare, funded by taxpayer dollars. We treat dying dogs better than this. Why the #### do we have publicly funded hospitals that cater to ONE religion? How is that not discriminatory? Why are they so goddamned special? I know, I know...history. Well it's time to stop living in the past. ####ing sky wizards. Unreal delusions.

I recall Premier Dani-Dearest recently mentioned something about giving families a say in reversing any approvals of someone's MAID decision

[Looch City]

You guys think we should start a petition for Calgary to separate?

I mean the city is pretty large. It's enough landmass to govern as a standalone country.

That way, I will feel more attached to the folks living in Sage Hill and Evanston. Or maybe we keep to inside the Ring road only??

[Flacker]

Originally Posted by DJones

Everything is artificial geopolitical lines. People attach their own values to those artificial lines.

Personally, I attach values on a basis of Family > Community > City >Area> Province > Region> country.

I honestly can't imagine seeing it any other way. People near you are more important than people further away and I naturally want decision making and tax revenue to remain as close as possible to me.

And without lowercase country, you will struggle to support any of those other things you deem important. If you paid attention in junior high social studies, this equation would be clearer.