A similar kinship was seen between the Atlantic Province, though Alberta was also in the mix as one of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundlands favourite. The focus in these matters always rests on personalities and signals. Alberta is sometimes depicted as the author of its own misfortunesand the knock isnt entirely unfair. Now as then, figuring out how to provide westerners with power in a government in which they have no elected representation is a major preoccupation in Ottawa. No doubt some attendees were shocked by the sight of an upside down flag at the front of the room. Prince Edward Island was omitted from the chart due to too small of a sample size. The equalization program has been changed often, with some minor tweaks and some major overhauls. Forty-four per cent of Quebecers consider Ontario a friend, but just 12 per cent of Ontarians feel that way about Quebec. Enjoy the latest local, national and international news. Let me ask: if you lived in a country where a plurality believed resource royalties more properly belonged to the nation as a whole rather than the province, how tempted would you be to save it? To this day the NEP retains mythic status in Alberta as the example of a central Canadian project inimical to Albertas economic interests. The differences in fiscal capacities among the provinces have narrowed since that time, yet this escalator has pushed up overall program costs from about $14 billion in 2009 to nearly $19 billion this year. Jason Kenney is not Albertas Ren Lvesque. and about $18,000 less than in Quebec. fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. Sign up for our newsletter and get a curated list of the top That's quite a broad generalization! Facing a massive budget shortfall in the wake of the 2015 oil-price crash, the short-lived government of Jim Prentice introduced plans to kill the flat tax, but never passed the legislation before his Progressive Conservatives were defeated by Rachel Notley'supstartNDP. Amazon Canada now offering students month-to-month pricing for Prime, The Long John Index is all the weather reporting Canada needs this winter (MAP), Pay gap between men and women in Canada's tech scene nearly $20K per year. Souhaitez-vous ragir cet article ? Unsurprisingly, the number of residents who say their own province is relatively high, but Alberta is recognized as receiving a raw deal by significant numbers of Canadians, the report says. Often they want to know what makes Albertans so irate and angry at just about everyone else in Canada, and, in particular, those of us in the now-fabled 905 area code. Bernier said this practice makes the provinces look poorer than they actually are and games the system. That does not mean that Albertans hate people from Quebec, it means that Alberta want to stop subsidizing Quebec when the Alberta economy is in trouble. They ask why it seems like the discussion always has to be a zero-sum game. It is a priority for CBC to create products that are accessible to all in Canada including people with visual, hearing, motor and cognitive challenges. Do you stuff your piggy bank if you dont trust your parents not to knick it? Like I said, I feel like it is deeper then the pipeline and the transfer payment so I wanted to know the point of views of Alberta. Alberta alone is still Alberta landlocked, and the solution won't be south of the border, because pipeline politics can be as tangled there as they are here. National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Unlimited online access to National Post and 15 news sites with one account. Please reach out right away and we can start ma. Would this restore the "Alberta tax advantage" of the Klein era? The modern era of Alberta alienation began under Pierre Trudeau. Alberta has subsidized Quebec for decades. University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe said the program has room for improvement and agreed that some people may have legitimate grievances. What's even more surprising is that 21% of Quebecers actually agree! Quebec is a particular irritant for Kenney because the province receives the largest dollar amount of Equalization and is opposed to pipelines, thus frustrating Albertas efforts to get its oil and gas to markets. Next, longtime provincial Conservative party organizer Craig Chandlerwho earlier this year was the campaign manager for Jason Kenneys Economic Development, Trade and Tourism Minister Tanya Firtook to the stage to shill for an Alberta First purchasing program encouraging residents to opt for products produced by their neighbours. The starting point could be the creation of an Alberta Economic Development Agency, as distinct from Western Diversification, the existing federal agency that covers all of western Canada. Quebec Premier Franois Legault. One change Kenney seems to want is the exclusion of non-renewable-resource revenues from the formula used to calculate Equalization. We have enabled email notificationsyou will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. The idea that Alberta is making payments into an equalization fund is a common misconception and probably generates a lot of the misplaced ire for the program. Chief among them is Trudeau's Senate policy, which is founded upon nonpartisanship in the upper chamber, with no Liberal Senate caucus and no senators in the cabinet. In an opinion article for the Calgary Herald, Alberta Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean said people constantly come up to him and ask him if the province could withdraw from the equalization program. National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. To make matters worse, 53% of the Canadians in the study believe that Quebec takes more than it gives to the Confederation. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events. He should try making that case in Calgary. (Quebec's income tax rates, by comparison, start at 15 per cent.). Top smartwatches to sport: Great options to track your fitness, Laurent Duvernay-Tardifsets sights on what's next, Top performing coffee grinders for the perfect morning cup, EXCLUSIVE: Vitamix introduces FoodCycler turning food waste into plant food, 5 high-performance blow dryers for all hair types, tap here to see other videos from our team. If so, what is an Albertan meant to conclude from this? After spending more than a decade reporting from Alberta, I have to confess that Im tired of trying to explain western alienation to the East. Or perhaps you, too, would opt to squander your wealth with, uh, high quality educational and health services and low taxeswhich has been the unwitting economic diversification strategy of Albertan governments since the 90s. With lower prices, the two provinces take in less revenue and so receive more equalization money. It's the place for possibilities,amarketplace of ideas. The other big part of the story is the resentment of Alberta, which is also especially significant in terms of Albertans feeling not particularly close to any province other than Saskatchewan, said Shachi Kurl, executive director of the Angus Reid Institute. Nevertheless, Trudeau should consider putting Equalization on the agenda of the next First Ministers Meeting to try to resolve some of these long-standing frictions and forge a stronger consensus on this key instrument of fiscal federalism. I have no doubt that Wexit is siphoning some of the far-right populist fuel that keeps websites like Reddit and 8Chan blinking with discontent well into the early morning hours on weekdays. Many Albertans circle this square with the assumption that Trudeau bought the pipeline to kill ita conspiracy that doesnt make much sense when you consider the expansion would be dead already if the federal government had done nothing. That seemed a bit much. Naturally, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba all stuck together, with Alberta and Saskatchewan seeing the closest bond of all provinces at 75% and 77% of respondents viewing the other province as especially close. Thus began the modern era of Alberta alienation. Facebook. Click herefor a version that should work with your mobile device.). A Rednexit hat is already available for sale on the Wexit website. Jason Kenney, the premier of Alberta, does not get such an easy ride. But the bust was inevitable and predictable. Canadians are seen as friendly people on the international stage, but just how neighbourly are we with our fellow patriots across the country? and. A national media based primarily in the East seemed to declare the Bloc the only unmitigated winner in this federal election. Unauthorized distribution, transmission or republication strictly prohibited. They look ugly. RELATED:Re-election means never having to say youre sorry. These are people who fret about the climate crisis and what it bodes for their children. (Please note, if you will, that everything east of Manitoba is considered the East to me.). It's silly to say that all people in one province have strong feelings about all people in another province. At that level, Albertans pay more than both Ontarians and British Columbians. If you forget about us, tweet after tweet from Alberta read, perhaps well forget about our payments to the equalization program. The numbers have been updated to reflect that abatement. Or, at the very least, to greet the crisis playing out in this province with smug contempt. Whats more, Ottawa needs to be on the ground in Alberta in a way it hasnt been before, and it must be seen by Albertans to be making policy changes in Albertas interests. Nevertheless, Trudeau should consider putting Equalization on the agenda of the next First Ministers Meeting to try to resolve some of these long-standing frictions and forge a stronger consensus on this key instrument of fiscal federalism. Didnt he buy you a pipeline?. Trudeau should make a substantive policy concession to Alberta. And there is no point in continuing to try to explain anger and alienation to people who do not want to hear it. TRUDEAU HATES ALBERTA. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Why would we give them what they want?. Angus Reid. The phrase "Alberta tax advantage" figured heavily into thebudget introduced by Ralph Klein's government in the year 2000, which made income-tax reform a key plank. We need to manage the transition off of our dependence on fossil fuels. Nor is it shocking that within the crowd were dyed-in-the-wool racists and white nationalists. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. Around $100,000, Albertans pay less than Ontarians but still more than people in B.C. We simply dont want our little island ruined by the same thing that is going on in the rest of Canada. If Ontario and Quebec, with the first- and second-largest gross domestic products respectively among the provinces, can have their own federal agencies for economic development, so should Alberta, which has the third-largest GDP not to mention the biggest economic adjustment challenge of any province if Canada is to move down the path to the decarbonization of its economy. Were not alone., RELATED:Encana doesnt want to be Canadian anymore, and Trudeau shrugs. READ MORE:Netflix Canada Announces The Official Date That The Harry Potter Movies Are Coming. I know my values very well, even if I no longer recognized Canada.. Ontario came a distant second, and the Atlantic provinces landed third overall. But on one particular subject, at least amonga small group, I am the go-to person. The survey also asked respondents if they thought that there might be one province in the Federation that gets more than they give by being a part of Canada, and the consensus overwhelmingly showed Quebec as that province even from Quebecois themselves. That assumption emerged from Quebec's past attempts at an independence referendum. More is needed this time around. It's Albertans in the middle who don't fare as well, as you can see from the interactive chart below. On the other end of the spectrum, about 950,000 Albertanshad incomes of less than $25,000. Here, we answer common questions and dispel some myths about the most resilient Alberta bogeyman. But the bust was inevitable and predictable. Baked into that moral calculus is an implicit political one: its a very fine thing to wipe an industry off the map in a part of the map that doesnt matter. Sure, they understand the province's frustration with B.C. Alberta heard not a peep from him when Encana announced last week that it would move its headquarters from Calgary to Denver. How much are these payments Alberta is making? | Do you have something to say about the article you just read? And thirdly, I would say we have allies across Canada. 2023 National Post, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. All rights reserved. So, between a government they hatenot dislike, but hatea slump in oil prices, real challenges attracting investment, and a sense that Quebec, Ontario and B.C. While Albertans making $25,000 a year pay the least income tax in the country, the picture changes as you approach $50,000. Ottawa isnt going to give a bunch of rednecks a fair hearing, or a fair deal. It's the politicians that are the problem, B.C. An Albertan looking at equalization with the glass half-full might say the province's wealth, relative to the rest of Canada, means it's too rich to need help and that's a good thing. An earlier version of this story didn't factor in the abatement on federal taxes that Quebec income-tax filers receive. The delays included resistance from Albertans who weren't sure they had enough material to sell East and a preference to sell to the United States. RELATED:Could Chrystia Freeland save Canada? It feels too futilelike trying to explain an emotion (and a not-always-rational one, as is the way with emotions)to people who dont want to hear it. Could Alberta pull off a full-blown boycott of Quebec? The oil price crash that continues to weigh on the economy was no politicians fault. Whether its on here, or r/Canada, or r/BritishColumbia or any other non-Albertan sub. 2023 National Post, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. All rights reserved. And, sure enough, Elections Canada forms are flying around the room. We have provincial governments who have got our backwere not isolated. There are no easy answers to the questions that siege mentality raises. The Wexit Facebook page now boasts about a quarter-million members and its founder, Peter Downing, took to the front of the room wearing an Edmonton Eskimos jersey and asked the crowd to remove those caps to observe a moment of silence for the Alberta workers who have committed suicide since oil priced dropped in 2014, and the province lost an estimated 150,000 jobs. Premier Jason Kenney has become one of the most hated leaders in modern Alberta history, according to a new poll by ThinkHQ. I know it is the oil culture that people dislike but whenever something crappy happens there, people make fun of the entire province. Daily Hive is a Canadian-born online news source, established in 2008, that creates compelling, hyperlocal content. Alberta separatism has never really been taken seriously by anyone, because every time it's just some half-baked attempt to 'own the Libs'. Are you considering a Move to Alberta? Monday morning, we are going to file our applications with Elections Canada for the official registration of Wexit Canada.. In Alberta, 56% of respondents agreed with the statement, "Western Canada gets so few benefits from being part of Canada that they might as well go it on their own," up 28 points from 2010 . If you are a Home delivery print subscriber, unlimited online access is. Through propaganda, many Albertans have come to see oil as part of their identities and it has led them to resist the diversification of their economy and adequate social safety nets, which is creating a feedback loop where the higher the unemployment and the worse their economic woes are, the more they blame liberals/leftists, the federal It's around the $150,000 mark that Alberta returns to the lowest income-tax burden of all provinces. It may follow the doomed and creepily fascistic, Western Canada Concept led by lawyer Doug Christie, who made a name for himself in the 80s by defending anti-semites and neo-Nazis. This province continues to offer high quality services and low taxes that keep it in thrall to resource royalties that are long gone and likely never coming back. British Columbia, on the other hand, is the odd one out in the western clique: just 21 per cent of people in other western provinces say B.C. Now, it does not surprise me in the least that blue collar truckers and patch workers would hold views toward matters like asylum-seekers that would not earn them a warm welcome at a cocktail party in the Annex. That subject is Alberta, and ever since the election and shutout of the Liberals in that province, family, friends and casual acquaintances have been asking variations of this: What's with Alberta? Read more about cookies here. If you earn $250,000 a year, you'll pay about $4,000 less in Alberta than in B.C. If we want to discuss politics, that's another situation altogether. If Canada seems a little less alarmed by the prospect of a thriving Bloc, perhaps its because we can sense that the actual threat to Confederation posed by the party has passed. Email us at:calgarytheroadahead@cbc.ca. Eventually, the questions wend their way to separation. He's French. What I do predict is that the Wexit leaders currently fronting Facebook pages will be discredited. Alberta is also thought to have bought its own trouble because it didnt hoard its oil gains, Norway-style. Scan this QR code to download the app now. Payments from the federal government to have-not provinces are based on their fiscal capacity, but wealthier provinces receive nothing. That was enough to attract the support of eight MLAs from the province. The provinces suffering is proper and righteous. But neither has Trudeau done much to ease fears or restore trust. At least, not yet. and Quebec over pipeline opposition. We've helped lots of families relocate and we'd love to help you too! In his failed bid for the leadership of the Alberta Progressive Conservatives, MLA Richard Starke said the province had to stop offering charity to the rest of the country when it had fiscal problems at home. Worryingly, from a national unity perspective, Canadas least favourite province is Qubec, the poll found, Top picks for different budgets, brands and other preferences. If each of your parents are of 2 ethnicities, do you wind up with one of each or are you a quarter of each? Transportation is one of this countrys top greenhouse gas culprits, yet I cannot imagine Trudeau making a similar comment about southwest Ontarios car manufacturing plants, nor Quebecs aviation industry. Saskatchewan, too, has raised issues around how Equalization is calculated, as has Ontario. From the usual short-fused social media users to conservative leaders, its not hard to find anger in Alberta about equalization payments. That would be a virtual impossibility. Albertans hate people from Ontario. Kenney has promised to hold a referendum on Equalization if the program is not changed to reduce the unfairness he perceives in its design. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events. Confederation is hopelessly broken. With apologies to Anne McLellan, who was tapped to be an informal advisor on Alberta to the Liberals, this lack of representation seems solely a concern to people who live in Ontario. If he doesnt want to listen, no amount of representation will make a difference. Or: If they need revenue, why don't they have a sales tax? That means half of Albertans earned less than that amount, and half earned more. There are lots of good reasons for that. And because the money comes out of general federal revenue, theres no way for Albertans to stop funding it short of refusing to pay their taxes. Albertans have a way of adopting Central Canadians as "True Albertans" and ignoring and shaming those actually born and raised in Alberta as "not real Albertan". Canada's right-wing extremist movement is a motley crew of white supremacists, anti-government "sovereignists" and pro-militia crusaders who, despite being disorganized and prone . Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay, Rex Murphy and others. The United Conservative Party, meanwhile, recently endorsed a return to a flat tax. are happy to take redistributed . All was forgiven and forgotten. Its a sign of open disrespecteven war, in some places. To this day the NEP retains mythic status in Alberta as. Answer: I suppose so, but not many people including Premier Jason Kenney seem too worried about Wexiters (really, really bad branding, by the way). The data definitely aligns with many Canadian's belief that Quebec is not particularly interested in the rest of Canada or engaged with the country. His papa hated Alberta and the apple didn't fall far from the tree. The reason for the negative reviews about Quebec according to the poll is due to an average of only 5% of Canadians believing that the province is "close with or friendly" to the province they reside in. This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. There is a militancy to some of Wexits language and memestalk of civil war, for exampleand pictures of men in full military garb, that could foreshadow something darker and more violent. Kenneys hostile handling of the environment file, his abandonment of Rachel Notleys consumption-based carbon tax and climate-change strategy risks riling the very green activists who had previously been appeased. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY. In October Pierre Trudeaus son Justin was re-elected with a minority government with no seats in the Prairies. The Liberals will never look after us. This gives a sense of how many individuals fall into each income category, but there's another measure that Statistics Canada also tracks the share of total tax paid. From racists rooted out in bars in Brooks, Alta., to the the anti-Semitic ramblings of school teacher Jim Keegstra, whose firing helped form Canadas hate speech laws, to the anti-semitism within the early Reform Party, to Stephen Harpers alleged hidden agenda. Having just won a commanding mandate from the province by articulating many of its lingering grievances, he can make a uniquely credible case for Canada. St. Joseph Communications uses cookies for personalization, to customize its online advertisements, and for other purposes. The polling, drawn from an online survey of more than 4,000 Canadians across the country who are members of the Angus Reid Forum, a group of survey respondents, also says that a primary criticism from residents in Alberta and Saskatchewan, is that they dont benefit in proportion to whats provided to the rest of the country, as discontent over equalization payments bubbles up. Ontarians arent fond of anyone; Alberta is the province most-liked by Ontarians, but only 28 per cent of them hold that affection; and 40 per cent of Ontarians dont consider any other province to be particularly close to them. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. More than four in every five Albertans surveyed stated that Quebec was unfriendly towards their province, while views from Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and even neighbouringOntario were around the same all at more than 50%. Shut down the oil sands and avoid the much harder questions about why they exist. At the front of the dark, wood-panelled hall, a Canadian flag held aloft by two hockey sticks was displayed, inverted, on stage. It seems like a more benign entity now for being merely opportunistic in its pursuit of an ever-better deal for Quebec. Now, as did his father, Justin Trudeau must find a way to provide westerners with power. The big difference between 1980 and today is that Alberta is a much larger player in the Canadian economy and in our national life than it was then. There is a moral component to which industries were choosing to transition. The oil sands are greenhouse gas intensive. Ive just noticed that Albertans (online and even when you talk to them in RL), they seem to hate Qubec alot and will also blame a lot of things on Qubec. Whether Alberta should return to a "flat tax" on income has been the subject of debate recently. It may buy time for the Trans Mountain pipeline to be built, for economic conditions to improve, or for political tensions to ease. And it should have sufficient funds say, $500 million a year to make an impact on the ground in that province. Meaning it might be time for Canadians to reconcile and hug it out. A year later the Trudeau Liberals unveiled the infamous National Energy Program (NEP). Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events. Off the top, separating from Canada seems like a very bad idea. When a reporter parachutes into cattle country to root out a racist wacknut, the outlier and the anecdote become proof of the corrupt and immoral nature of the province and its political culture as a whole. But the most common target of this rally is, in fact, mainstream Conservative politicians; Kenney, Stephen Harper and Andrew Scheer, who oversaw the current equalization formula that is pulling out billions worth of revenues more than what Alberta receives in transfers and services. The latter is perhaps worse, though there is recent precedent for it. 'God help any federal leader whos trying to campaign on a united message because this is not a country that is feeling united'. Justin Trudeau speaks on Canada Day. Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. The reason for the negative reviews about Quebec according to the poll is due to an average of only 5% of Canadians believing that the province is "close with or friendly" to the province they reside in. From a purely environmental perspective the arguments used against the oil sands can be deployed against these, too. But, middle-income Albertans who account for the bulk of the population pay more than those in Ontario and B.C. We have enabled email notificationsyou will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. The government of Canada notes that there is one circumstance in which it is proper to display the flag inverted: as a symbol of distress. But in the end, I tell them, it is a telling example of Albertans' belief that their economic might, their enterprise and their hard work have again been taken for granted by a Liberal government that promised to be different, open and inclusive. About 178,000 people in Alberta reportedindividual incomes of $150,000 or more in 2015, the most recent year for which detailed data is available. RELATED:Why Jason Kenneys proposed referendum is so puzzling.
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