Atlantic Accord: Elephant in the Room
June 12, 2007 · By Tom Cerber
Yawn, another story about a Maritime politician miffed at Stephen Harper.
No one seems to have said it, so I’ll say it. The way to solve the controversy over calculating equalization payments is to eliminate equalization altogether.
Instead of challenging the Pee Wee Herman politicians of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and elsewhere to take him to court, Stephen Harper should instead remind them of their culture of defeatism, a term he used years before he tried fishing in their waters for votes. He should tell them that the Canadian taxpayers, mostly Albertans, are sick and tired of paying for their pork barrel politics. Grow up and get a life.
UPDATE: Jonathan Kay illuminates the wonky thinking of NS Premier Rodney MacDonald:
Bizarrely, both N.S. and Newfoundland claim that Harper’s approach is ripping them off. In a recent letter, Nova Scotia premier Rodney MacDonald explained his logic:
“Suppose you are an employee in a company and you achieve a bonus from your boss. You take that bonus and put all of it against your mortgage. Two years later the company is doing better so the boss gives everyone a raise. But he gives you a choice between your old salary with the bonus you got two years ago or the raise. But the catch is that if you take the raise you have to pay back the bonus you got. Is that fair?”
Uh, Rodney, I think the answer to that question is “yes.”
There remains something else unsaid: if the Maritime provinces want to persist in thinking of the federal government as their “boss,” that explains a large part of their problem! Provincial politicians have it a little to easy in this country, the federal government bankrolling a great deal of their jurisdiction: monies they aren’t accountable for as members of any parliamentary body that signs off on raising those funds.
It’s time to push the federal government back to its own turf, delegitimating its gross over-taxation of Canadians, expecting provinces to make the most of their own taxation powers for their own jurisdiction. Canadians would get more responsive government if provinces provided what they were intended to provide; more local, more readily accountable government.
“He should tell them that the Canadian taxpayers, mostly Albertans, are sick and tired of paying for their pork barrel politics.”
As an Alberta born Canadian who spent the more than 30 years in the province I feel my opinion counts at least a bit, I would like to note that the Albertans I speak to are fairly satisfied with their current Federal tax contributions. Most would be happy to pay more taxes if there was more re-investment in sustainable industries, and less investment and tax breaks for multinational oil/gas companies.
You’d be in the minority, I assume.
Pay more taxes “NOT” but yes to them spending what they already get mor affectivley.
“You’d be in the minority, I assume.”
Expand your audience to include Albertans not on the alumni list of the U of L and the U of C and you may find a wider variety of responses.
Clay: I think that you should expand your audience from government employees, the Edmonton Fringe Festival and the guy who asks me for change outside Timmy’s everyday.
No one that I know thinks that they get value for their taxes and for the most part believe in what PJ O’Rourke said: “Giving government money and power is like giving car keys and whiskey to a teenage boy”.
Most Alberta taxpayers are sick of their taxes going to the Maritimes? Most Alberta taxpayers ARE FROM THE MARITIMES YOU BONEHEAD! Maritimers built your Province, you ungrateful lout.
Some comments are stupid beyond belief.
‘Most Alberta taxpayers ARE FROM THE MARITIMES YOU BONEHEAD! Maritimers built your Province, you ungrateful lout.’
Apparently Alberta didn’t begin to grow until Maritimers went West for the boom!
Just an observation from Ontario.
I would be interesetd in knowing where in the province most of these opinions are being voiced. In the south where the oil and gas industry is not a huge employer (except in the office towers of Calgary), opinions seem to be quite fiscally conservative, with complaints of how the federal government is raping revenues from Albertans.
Is it possible the North of Alberta is being raped by the South, with huge amounts of money being diverted from needed infrastructure projects there, to ungrateful residents in the South who are doing little to support the industry?
Consider the environmental and social consequenses that will impact the northern part of the province, and what percentage revenues are being distributed back into those areas. Then shut up and pay your taxes, which are the lowest in the country.
Methinks Clay is a pseudonym for Ed Stelmach, in which case, kind sir, you should get back to work to running the province.
“Most Alberta taxpayers are sick of their taxes going to the Maritimes? Most Alberta taxpayers ARE FROM THE MARITIMES YOU BONEHEAD! Maritimers built your Province, you ungrateful lout.”
That’s crap – most are from Saskatchewan. Thanks for playing though.
Maybe Clay hasn’t gone on many road trips in Alberta. If he had, he would know that the best infrastructure in the province is North of Calgary.
This is beside the point: provinces aren’t as accountable as they should be for the monies they spend; the feds are more than happy to over-tax Canadians for their national programs that aren’t even part of their constitutional jurisdiction.
As it stands now, if the provincial legislatures in the Maritimes, or any province for that matter, were responsible for the bulk, if not entirety, of income tax paid out every year, they would have a little more clout in their dealings with the federal government. As it stands now, the feds have far too much leverage with their spending power, willing to interfere far to readily where they don’t belong.
And this seems to be the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about, provincially or federally, whenever debates over transfer payments arise.
[...] In Newfoundland and Labrador, another hotbed of opposition to the budget, polls conducted for NTV by Telelink indicate that two Conservative MPs intending to run in the next election would face an uphill battle if the vote were held today.Only 11 per cent say they would vote for Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn, while 48 per cent would not. Almost 58 per cent thought he was wrong to vote for the budget.Similarly, only 17 per cent would vote for Fabian Manning while 35 per cent said they would not. Fifty-five per cent thought he was wrong to vote for the budget.More than 500 people were polled in each MP’s riding. The margin of error was 4.3 percentage points.Some Blogging Tories are starting to get it and understand how much damage this spat could cause.Others… not so much. [...]
“…Pee Wee Herman politicians of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and elsewhere…”
Amen. The premiers of these provinces carry as much authority as the mayor of Red Deer.
“In the south where the oil and gas industry is not a huge employer (except in the office towers of Calgary), opinions seem to be quite fiscally conservative, with complaints of how the federal government is raping revenues from Albertans…”
Spoken like a true Edmontonian.
Perhaps if you spent a little less time with your buddies on U of A campus you’d realize that the only thing keeping most southern Albertan rural and urban communities afloat are the jobs and revenue being brought in by the oil and gas industry. Just like the rest of Alberta. I don’t know what ideology has to do with any of it.
“Is it possible the North of Alberta is being raped by the South, with huge amounts of money being diverted from needed infrastructure projects there, to ungrateful residents in the South who are doing little to support the industry?”
Uh no. I don’t know what grand infrastructure projects in southern Alberta you’re talking about. Last time I checked the nicest black top, such as the swanky new ring road around Edmonton, seem to be clustered around the capital region. That highway through Westlock is not too shabby either. How about the close to $1 billion the government has committeed towards twinning Hwy 63 to Ft. McMurray? Compare this to much of the infrastrucure south of Red Deer which is crumbling into oblivion.
“Consider the environmental and social consequenses that will impact the northern part of the province, and what percentage revenues are being distributed back into those areas. Then shut up and pay your taxes, which are the lowest in the country.”
What is your point? None of us are getting the taxes back we pay in. Which, I think was the point in the first place. And as far as the environmental consequences, last time I checked, it wasn’t an army of engineers from Foremost and Oyen who were ripping apart the tar sands. How that is the south’s fault is beyond me. I’m also at a loss to see how paying more taxes is going to fix any of this.
Methinks you protest too much.
[...] has the obvious solution. This entry was written by Aaron Unruh and posted on Wed Jun 13, 2007 at 9:02 am and filed under [...]
[...] again, the solution is obvious. This entry was written by Aaron Unruh and posted on Wed Jun 13, 2007 at 11:14 am and filed under [...]
Looks like Saskatchewan is next!
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saska.....hewan.html
You’re a true idiot. The Albertan taxpayers?? Like hell, Alberta has the lowest taxes in Canada. And this attitude of the East is ripping up the country. We’re poor because upper Canada made us that way. There was once a day where Ontario was the poor spot in Canada,but you’ll never find a current politician admit it. Now, that we’ve saved all your asses, you’ve forgotten about us, taken away our funding, and our infrastructure has gone to hell. The more money else where, the more layoffs in the East, and the more families are torn apart so that one breadwinner can travel out to camp jobs in Alberta to make ends meet. And those equalization payments we’re fighting for are even a start of what we need, but we’re gonna fight for what we can get. If you even think with one ounce of your bigot body that East Coasters are free riders, you have another thing coming. We are the hardest working Canadians in this nation.