Danielle Smith gets results!
Love overflows in the CBC comments.One day after shuffling his cabinet, Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach is signalling a confrontation with the federal government over equalization.
Stelmach has put his new finance minister, Ted Morton, in charge of negotiating with Ottawa to update the equalization deal because he says it doesn't work for Albertans.
Alberta pays a lot more money in federal taxes than it receives, yet the province is criticized for its vast energy wealth, which helps many other Canadians, said the premier on Thursday.
"Especially after the discussion at Copenhagen, where much of the criticism was placed on this province, and yet our contribution — this last economic downturn, the worst year since the 1930s — was well over $21 billion and that cannot continue and we have to have that discussion in Canada," Stelmach said to reporters in Calgary.
Morton, considered a fiscal hawk, said equalization has outlived its original purpose of helping all provinces provide roughly the same level of services to citizens.
Salient, trenchant comments posted on the CBC story.
"Morton, considered a fiscal hawk, said equalization has outlived its original purpose of helping all provinces provide roughly the same level of services to citizens."
Right, time to take the equalization teat out of Quebec's mouth. They should have to fund their socialist utopia from their own sweat.
I wonder how Quebec will pay for their green cars if Alberta shuts the valve.
Well it's about time.
Hmm throw the feelthy tar sand wealth producers under the bus at Copenhagen, hows that workin' for y'all Ontario and Quebec? Guess there is a downside to bein' a holier than thou hypocrite.
oh - yes - thank the good Lord God ! - someone finally says something about the elephant in the room - Danielle is definitely having an effect
Equalization is a classic socialist redistribution scheme wherein the ultimate measure of success is the ability to demonstrate failure. As such it reinforces and perpetuates dysfunctional economic regimes and policies. While a nation should be the ultimate insurance scheme and transfer funds and resources to mitigate discrete short term hardships, locking in permanent wealth transfer turns a safety net into a hamock. Lie in the hamock long enough and the muscles of economic production atrophy.
As an Ontarion I would love to ditch equalization. While Onatario might be on the short end of the stick today that wasnt the case in the past and needn't be in the future.
End the whole thing. Just knowing that Newfoundland never gets another dime, after the big benefit they have now is enough for me. Quebec is pure bonus.
One should not criticize Quebec's social programs, but rather strive to emulate them. They have some truly innovative and much needed social programs.
"T" I hope you are being sarcastic.
My favourite comment was the one about Quebec and Alberta being the same. Both whining about confederation but needing it for support.
You know, its true! We would have a real hard time putting that 12 billion a year somewhere. Confederation has a tremendous mechanism for throwing it down a dark hole of socialism never to be seen again. Into the hands of corrupt Quebecers to be filtered into la cosa nostra.
Yeah, we really need Confederation
Saskatchewan, BC, and you too Manitoba! Come with us, let's get the hell out of Trudeaupia!
Cue the MSM Alberta/Harper bashing in 3 2 1 ....
As much as I detest interprovincial welfare Ted Morton will get little more than faint applause here in Alberta while he will receive wide condemnation in the rest of Canada.
Yes T, Quebec is the ultimate NANNY state...paid for by Alberta!
How long before Ted Morton crosses over to the Alliance?
"One should not criticize Quebec's social programs, but rather strive to make them pay for them themselves."
FIFY.
It amuses me to see the way CBC and CTV try to dig for anything negative about the prime minister
from DaniellE Smith.
I like when DANIELLE SMITH said flat out how much in $$$$$$Quebec gets. which means Dannielle is counting every penny that goes to Quebec, I hope that she checks out 'where' Charest uses our alberta money on, especially when he complains that the bridges and what have you are falling apart. Does the money go for the repairs of the bridges or to quebecers just for more votes. My guess the later.
How much is 100 acres of bush and rolling hills near Calgary worth? I am considering moving there. Screw Ontario, sick and tired of it, but natural laziness and hatred of changes kept me here for 10 years, while I observed the place going down the drain. When stimulus money dry out, it will be a short fall, sudden stop.
oops, short drop.
Aaron
http://www.calgaryrealestatelink.com/Rocky_View/Alberta/Farms_and_Acreages/Rural_Rocky_View/Agent/Listing_1602137.html
T - social programs are not free. Someone pays for them.
Quebec would be 3rd world economic basket case without the massive subsidies it gets.
Roughly 25% of its public expenditures comes form "other Canadians".
Quebec will whine like a stuck pig when they are cut off.
I already have my earplugs.
nothing like the Quebec hand signals , a upright finger on one hand and an upturned palm on the other.
If the PC party had not allowed people to walk in off the street, pay 10.00 and vote for a leader, Ted Morton would be Premier of Alberta.
If the PC party had not allowed people to walk in off the street, pay 10.00 and vote for a leader, Ted Morton would be Premier of Alberta.
Ed come up the middle, just like Dion, and disaster resulted in both cases.
When Morton was running for PC leader, he advocated taking the federal government to the Supreme Court, arguing that the Equalization Program is unconstitutional.
Hopefully, Morton can convince Stelmach that this Court challenge should be Alberta's next move, after the consultations inevitably break down. I don't hold out much hope for Ed, as he has shown himself to have a tin ear to everything desired by those to the right of Maude Barlow.
T, of course Quebec has so many innovative and wonderful socialist programs. If you had that never ending cashflown pipeline coming from Alberta, I'll bet even you could come up with a couple of dandy ways to spend the West's money on yourself.
But turn off the spigot, and see how long you can pay for all those "bling" programs and scams!
MaryT is right. Those rules for selecting the PC leader were idiotic. Much better to restrict the voting to PC members of at least three years.
Free up the candidates to debate amongst themselves, and not have to run around selling memberships to every Tom Dick and Harry--many who did NOT have the PC Party's best interests at heart.
Hopefully, the federal CPC will learn from this Alberta PC disaster, and restrict a future leadership vote to TRUE, committed Conservatives, and keep out the mischief makers.
How long before Ted Morton crosses over to the Alliance?
~John Chittick
Ted Morton swore up and down during the leadership campaign that, win or lose, he wouldn't leave the Alberta PC's for another party.
Ed come up the middle, just like Dion, and disaster resulted in both cases.
~MaryT
The PC Party had a mandatory 3 way runoff which, if you think about it, was designed to assure that a real conservative would never be Premier under the Alberta PCs.
Morton will get nowhere with his negotiations on transfer payments.
Danielle Smith is my hope to be next Premier of Alberta.
John Chittick at January 15, 2010 12:04 PM Re: Ted Morton crossing the floor.
Ted is very close to the Anderson family, a high profile Airdrie family with lots of community support and power. Rob Jr. is the sitting MPP who crossed over to the Alliance. There is a huge possibility of him aligning with the Wild Rose, as he is far more of a libertarian than a conservative, but that was the best choice to get elected at the time. Ted is a real stand-up guy, well read and has the maverick spirit which is so indicative of the Alberta spirit.
I wish him all the best in his pursuit of this, should he cross over.
I see T is in fine form today. Still doesn't make any sense but today's comments are downright humourous.
Alliance=Wild Rose (two names, one before, the other now)
The Nanticoke coal fired electrical plant in Ontario produces more greenhouse gases than the oil sands but I guess it's not fashionable to talk about that..
Rob Jr. is the sitting MPP who crossed over to the Alliance.
~glacierman
We call the MLAs(Member of the Legislative Assembly) in Alberta.
The city of Toronto produces twice as much greenhouse gases as the oil sands.
What a bunch of greedy hypocrites!
Morton is correct in bringing up the equalization issue.
Remember, though, how much whining there was when Quebec's artistic community when they perceived their funding was being cut when arts funding was actually increasing.
Redistribution is the ultimate answer federally.
Clarification:
Redistribution of federal seats to more accurately reflect representation by population.
Yes, Quebec has some amazing socialist programs. It's amazing what you do when someone else is paying.
So, let's see, Quebec's population is what? Let's call it 6 million for simplicity's sake. Alberta cuts Quebec off of the annual 12 billion subsidy. That's $2,000 for every man woman and child in La Belle Province. Let's remember that not every man woman and child pays taxes either. Let's call it 50% (again for simplicity sake) That means a tax increase of 4,000 per (potential) taxpayer. I wonder how well those wonderful social experiments would be received with an automatic $4000 tax increase?
Yes, Morton is correct in bringing up the equalization issue.
The Harper government will fight against lowering equalization tooth and nail because:
a) Canada is in a recession and the Federal government needs all the cash it can get because of the deficit spending.
b) The East would have a fit if he gave in, and the opposition parties would accuse PM Harper of pandering to Alberta because Easterners think Alberta's energy resources are Canada's energy resources.
It would pit Albertans' support of the CPC against their support for their own provincial government.
This can't end well.
Just another genius move on Stelmach's part, it's almost like he's a plant for the LPC.
I question the timing.
The Alberta PCs could have done this any time over the last 30+ years when a Liberal government was in power, but didn't.
Oz, the battle would be in the Supreme Court--federal lawyers versus provincial lawyers. No politicians need take part, just like any other court case. Harper can find a simple, neutral narrative to it all, that won't cause him damage.
Thank you, Calgary Junkie.
"Salient, trenchant comments posted on the CBC story.
Posted by: T at January 15, 2010 11:28 AM "
It has taken me over an hour to stop laughing at this.Hey T....Mommy finally let you have a dictionary,and he/she/it found two new words. The CBC and their commetators are about as salient as rotten cabbage and as trenchant as a case of syphillis.Fortunately,antibiotics can fix the latter,nothing fixes the former.
When confronting a new issue the first question asked around the cabinet table is, "what's in it for Quebec"? The equalization formula is designed
in such a manner that Quebec cannot become a 'have' province. Each time the formula is tweaked the goal posts are moved to make sure Quebec is the receiver of transfer payments. Otherwise they feel slighted and humiliated. The conventional wisdom suggests that if the money ceases to flow then there is no reason for Quebec to remain in confederation. They constantly whine and threatening to leave if the rest of the country fails to deliver. One one hand they tell us they are a nation, separate from us, automonous, capable of going it alone on the world stage. Then they inform us that without our cash they will fail and by extension so will Canada. This game of extortion has been perfected by the Quebec political class. They elect enough 'seperatist' MP's to deny the wishes of the rest of the country to have a majority government. These MP's who, for the record, are ready to take Quebec out of Canada at the first opportunity love the paycheck and perks Canada provides them. They are phony with fake outrage and have no intention to leave and stop the gravy train. The bottom line is, there is no reason for the country of Canada to exist. We are not bound together by a single purpose, ideal or tribe. We are seperate regions, diverse from one another. The equalization formula only serves to make this point. If the issue cannot be addressed it will not have a happy ending. We will be in the same position as the Czechs and Slovaks.
Whether it is Quebec, Saskatchewan, Indians, African Americans, white trash or all of the above. The net results of welfare payments to these groups has been stunted economic and social prosperity. Saskatchewan is just now learning the benefits socially and economically of self determination. The people of Saskatchewan now realize that collecting federal welfare payments postponed the necessary adjustments to policy that attract business and grow the economy. Fortunately for Saskatchewan, the blazing example set by Alberta was too bright to ignore, and the socialists in Saskatchewan were forced to change economic policy to allow for growth and prosperity. As they say in Saskatchewan, “the dinosaurs didn’t all die west of Lloydminster” so it was very hard to explain to Saskatchewinners that they couldn’t be successful like Alberta(see the connection to Haiti?). The rest of the aforementioned are stuck in a never-ending spiral downwards. It doesn't matter if you're a Quebecer, or a welfare bum, it's the very welfare itself that has poisoned your mind, and made you a deficit to mankind. Generally speaking of course.
I disagree OZ. Tension between the federal and provincial govenment is not a bad thing for Alberta.JMO
Hold on, Mary T. I walked in off the street, paid $10, and voted for Ted, and so did an enormous portion of his base. It's when you restrict the vote to friends of Ralph Klein that the likes of Shithead Ed do well.
Red Morton is no longer conservative he has been absorbed into the land of Red Tory
Welfare bum/ Quebecer same thing Indiana, as Charest/Mcginty spout about the evil tarrrsands, their hydro Quebec has damaged more ecosystems than their citys of Quebec and Montreal, while robbing the Newfies on the whole project. The moron running Ontario fails to tell everyone that their coal is shipped from Pennslyvania on diesel trains and trucks to the lakes, loaded ont diesel ships and floated across to their coal fired generating plants, causing a massive sasquatch sized "carbon footyprint" for you eco echo poofters, and on and on it goes. Ted has the stones to at least speak up about the equalization welfare recipients petulant attitude toward Alberta, the mommy with the biggest teats for you babies in Quebec and Ontario. Keep biting the teat that your suckling on, and the cow will finally kick you in the head, yours is coming Quebec.
Posted by: Paul at January 15, 2010 2:30 PM
Red Morton?
Could you explain?
Indiana Homez, tension between Alberta and Ottawa, with no result, will make both Stelmach and Harper look good, one to Albertans and the other to Easterners.
(Ralph used to pull the same pose)
But PM Harper will look bad to Albertans if Morton is rebuffed because Albertans do want lower equalization payments.
As a matter of fact, I used to argue on blogs that rather than change the royalty arrangement to get more money, Stelmach should do just what he is trying to do now, get lower equalization payments.
An actual court trial will cost both sides money, but taxes are what will pay for it.
The media, which is all Left all the time, will make hay from it.
The potential for bad spin is enormous.
Ted Morton(Albertan) is going to negotiate with Jim Flaherty(Ontarian) or his deputy and if they reach an impasse it'll go to court and the sparks will fly.
Appointing Ted Morton as Finance Minister may be Stelmach's attempt at recreating a Steve West type character.
Steve "Doctor Death" West, was Ralph's guy who remorselessly implemented nearly all of the budget and departmental cuts that Ralph promised in the 1993 election. Ralph became an Alberta hero. Dr. West, the veterinarian, got a nickname.
Morton will likely bring down a tough budget and he'll be quite unsympathetic to Red Tory requests for money for fluff programs.
Nawww, that's my overactive imagination at work. The reason is more likely to be "friends close, enemies closer".
The impact of the WRA is more likely measured in the number of Calgary cabinet seats now (8), compared to the number in Stelmach's first cabinet (3).
Wow! If you guys in Alberta had any property for sale for less than a million bucks, you'd gotten way more displaced persons from the East moving in. Maybe even enough to build a wall between Ontario and Manitoba.