History Lesson: Fun Facts About Equalization and Separation: Quebec And Alberta!

It is not Harpercon Alberta that supports Quebec; not entirely anyway. We all (yes, including us Quebecers) pay federal taxes and they in turn get distributed to the provinces.   This is something many tend to conveniently forget. Hell, I remember Tommy Schnurmacher almost sounding surprised when Gilles Duceppe told that Quebecers paid federal taxes just like the rest of Canada, thus, entitled to the same benefits as anyone else. As long as we’re paying federal taxes, we shall still get transfers much like PEI, N.S., N.B. and looky here! A western province! Manitoba! So, I must ask, we, in Quebec, are supposed to pay federal taxes and not expect anything in return like any other province?

Ontario ended up on that dole late in 2008. Yes, I have as many of us have read and heard that many Albertans bitch about transfer payments to Ontario, although, since it is the first time they have become a have not province, it would have been best for them to shut the fuck up on that one.

For a layman’s definition on equalization payments in Canada, see here.

Equalization payments do not, technically, involve wealthy provinces making payments to poor provinces, although in practice this is what happens, via the federal treasury. As an example, a wealthy citizen in New Brunswick, a so-called “have not” province, pays more into equalization than a poorer citizen in Alberta, a so-called “have” province. However, because of Alberta’s greater population and wealth, the citizens of Alberta as a whole are net contributors to Equalization, while the citizens of New Brunswick are net receivers of Equalization payments.

Equalization payments are one example of what are often collectively referred to in Canada as “transfer payments”, a term used in other jurisdictions to refer to cash payments to individuals (see Canadian Transfer Payments). The money the provinces receive through equalization can be spent in any way the provincial government desires. The payments help guarantee “reasonably comparable levels” of health care, education, and welfare in all the provinces. The definition of “reasonably comparable levels”, however, has been the subject of considerable debate.

Since Quebec’s population is significantly greater than that of Alberta…can the same be said as about New Brunswick, using the above definition? Is Alberta a net contibutor to Quebec? No matter, there is no law dictating how Quebec spends its’ equalization payments. So, you Alberta Connies, instead of your bitchiness toward our social programs which really comes off as jealousy; channel that energy into lobbying for decent social programs, but be prepared to pay the taxes for them, just like we do for ours’.   Otherwise, shut the fuck up.

We also pay much higher taxes than in Alberta which in turn pays for our social programs. But hell, don’t take my word for it: take it way Monsieur Bachand!

«Il devrait plutôt expliquer aux Albertains que si on a des services dont on est fiers de se doter, au Québec, ce n’est pas à cause de la péréquation mais parce qu’on a 15 milliards $ de taxes et d’impôts de plus que les Albertains, a-t-il dit. Peut-être qu’il devrait se rappeler de ça et défendre les valeurs québécoises, ailleurs au Canada, au lieu de faire du «Québec bashing» en Alberta.»

Here’s ar history lesson. Once upon a time, Alberta was a have not province until 1947. And again, from 1957-1965,  at which time, Alberta received equalization payments. How convenient that it’s forgotten or never learned in the first place.  Oh Albertans can claim they never asked for those payments til the cows come home; I have found nothing in the history to suggest they refused these payments. Yet, no one bashes them over the head because of that.  They received equalization payments that any have not province would and should. It’s fair play.  In turn, Alberta Harpercons should just remember their own history before getting all superior and bashing others.

For those who seem to think Alberta will always remain a have province from here on out would be indeed be too cocky.  It would appear that history could well have repeated itself in Alberta in 2009, in the sense that they could have wound up being a have not province, yet again.  Don’t know how this debacle was, if at all, resolved.  It also seems that Alberta very recently asked the feds for extra cash.   I thought it beared mentioning that at anytime, any province can fall on bad times and it would be time for the other provinces to help if need be.  Unless, of course, they separate. Not likely to happen, but then, I never believed that Steve and his ultra GW Bush Corporatocracy and theocracy could ever get power on Canada, once known to be a far more compassionate country. Stranger things have happened.

Speaking of Alberta Separtatists,  there are still rumblings from Alberta separatists. Here are more rantings from a Conservative Albertan.  Never mind the Alberta Separation Party; Danielle Smith, leader of the Wildrose Alliance Party hinted as much on an episode of Question Period awhile back, when she spoke of such things like transfer payments to the Federal Government and her wanting to ‘rethink’ that. Of course, how can we forget this firewall letter Steve wrote to Ralph Klein in 2001 basically regarding Alberta’s potential independence from Canada. This separation movement is of course, led by Big C Conservative Albertans; that very same brigade that chastises Quebec’s yearning for Sovereignty. Pot, kettle, black..