25 Replies to “More on Cow”

  1. Don’t hold your breath, as Ottawa is now in milking the west mode and Alberta’s government is in a fundamental change of Alberta mode.

  2. Winston Churchill: “The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.”

  3. Ken:
    Red Rachel would like nothing better than to make Alberta a subservient vassal of Ottawa. How soon before she apologizes for us having so much more oil compared with Ontario and Quebec?

  4. And now there is this push to “unite the right” in Alberta. A merger between Wildrose and the PCs. Problem is the PCs are are not “right”. They are Progressives. That’s why Alberta is in the shape we’re in. A merger will win power but continue to sink us. Brad Wall is the only sane voice for Alberta. Unfortunately he too has a shelf life. After he’s gone….

  6. If Equalization continues there should be a condition:
    “Any province receiving Equalization must not discriminate against non-receiving provinces in public policy or in procurement of goods and services.”

  7. In other words, there’s nothing new under the sun. But, considering that our PM’s surname is Trudeau, should we be surprised? Like father, like son.

  8. I admired Peter Lougheed when he stood up to PET about the oil price. That diminished when he sold out and settled.
    After he left, my respect for the PCs declined dramatically. It became a party of crony capitalism, starting with Getty, and whoever was well-connected with the Tories profited handsomely. They may have been called *Progressive* Conservatives, but they certainly didn’t live up to that name.

  10. Bad enough that Lougheed sold out but what really hurts is that Preston Manning did as well. How bad will it have to get before there is any unity in the west to end equalization which is simply another definition of eastern imperialism. It is the way it has been since 1700 and was not invented by Turdeau Sr.
    When will we have a political force in the West that actually calculates and publicizes the amount of Western finance that has been spent in the east to no benefit? The greatest expenditure of public money in an industrial project was the AutoPact. Not only support of the car companies but also the industrial infrastructure needed to create that effort. Many $100’s of billions. A failed effort to say the least.
    The economic and cultural divide that exists in Canada is exploited by the east. The upcoming budget will confirm it. Turdeau will bring a carbon tax into Canada and that money will leave the west never to return. The scraps offered is insulting.
    Alberta, BC and SASK should have each funded a Heritage Fund similar to Alaska and Norway that would have provided finance separate from the federal government and Bay Street. Perhaps when times get hard enough the West will unite and demand a significant renegotiation of how this country is ran. It didn’t happen under Harper so I doubt it will ever happen.

  11. What to worry about ? “Venezuela is positively THRIVING under their system of equalization” – Sean Penn, 2008

  12. Not so sure of that CT.
    Many of us bit our tongues and tried to allow Harper the time he claimed to need.
    After 10 years it is fair to reassess.
    Reform and the later Alliance CPC were,in my opinion the last chance for an undivided Canada.
    Now we get to see what the takers really want and it is not pretty.
    Small business is doomed.
    Property rights are nonexistent .
    Government is so large it cannot be paid for,even by enslaving every producer.
    Yet the CPC did not help,they slowed the collapse a little but did not change the course.
    Civilization,civil society depends on informed citizens.
    based on voting results, western voters can still do basic maths and consider ethical behaviour important.
    No evidence of that to our east.(The Alberta NDP is a temporary glitch).
    Poverty is a real eyeopener,we have coasted fat and lazy into crisis, as humans always do.
    A cull of the useless and clueless is due and probably unavoidable.
    we live in interesting times where the foundations of civilization have been under attack for decades, the walls our courts,police and parliaments are crumbling.
    Authority is proudly announcing itself the enemy of the people.
    Very soon the people are going to take them at their word.
    High River being a vivid demonstration, Caledonia another.
    Property theft will be the final straw, negative interest rates,onetime taxes on savings, devalued money and carbon taxes.
    Government is theft.
    Administration costing in excess of 50% of ones return on labour is slavery by the parasites.
    There is no reason to produce or participate.
    Starve the beast, local taxes locally controlled.
    No combined taxation to exceed 10%.
    It is ironic when ones own government does not understand that the land within a nations borders is property and refuse to resist invasion.

  13. No province should pay equalization payments and no province should receive them. Let them work it out on their own.

  14. Nice job John.
    I attended a finance conference in Van a couple weeks ago. More than one speaker talked about the rejection of government’s ability to tax and spend effectively. People are rejecting government spending and institutions are starting to question government’s ability to pay their debts.
    As you so rightfully pointed out poverty teaches very tough lessons.

  15. The equalization system will be changed the minute Alberta becomes eligible. They will use the excuse that it’s unfair to wait 3 years to change the payments. This change will come after the Alberta economy recovers to ensure that they never get a penny.

  16. Alberta did have a heritage fund, which was established under Lougheed. Unfortunately, it was frittered away over the years by successive crony capitalist premiers.
    Now that Alberta’s on the skids, both Red Rachel and PM Hairgel will be fighting each other as to who gets to pick over the bones.

  18. We’ve got Brad Wall in Saskatchewan and they are set to get RID of the Dippers in Manitoba, Pipeline to Hudson Bay Tidewater At Last THEN WE BREAKAWAY become our own Republic…..

  19. I’m in.
    I was reminded of how much eastern Canada despised the west when I was a contractor at a certain Canadian government facility during the mid-1980s. The contract manager lived in a city east of Lake Superior and he was of the opinion that all major projects belong in and to eastern Canada. His reasoning was that it had the necessary facilities to build all the necessary pieces. Since the west didn’t, why should it ever get such business?
    I know of a certain company, based in the east, that had facilities across western Canada but they didn’t stay open for very long. I guess it wasn’t making enough money out here.
    Ottawa isn’t much better at it. I remember a certain federal government was about to make a major acquisition. The prime contractor set up shop in a prized eastern location, possibly to buy votes in the area. However, many of the bits needed for the final assembly were to be farmed out to smaller outfits. Since one of the cabinet ministers was from western Canada, a number of firms out here were approached. The company I was working for at the time was one of them and we bid on it, though we didn’t win.
    A few years later, I visited the prime contractor’s main facility. From what I saw, there was no reason why that place couldn’t have been located in western Canada.

  20. Very well said CT, John, and B. I am in and have been for quite some time. I just gave Harper and the Conservatives the benefit of the doubt, but as already noted here, the reprieve of the molesting of the west was only abated for a short few years. The Laurentian Elite won and now they will make sure another Harper will not happen again.

  21. Harper had four years, not ten to effect changes. In a minority circumstance one requires the support of at least some of the majority. That tempers any desire to change the socialist policies and laws that Canadians live under.

  22. “No province should pay equalization payments and no province should receive them. Let them work it out on their own.”
    What exactly is the point in a country where the constituent parts sense no common obligation to help out each other?

  23. “Western separation.”
    Because, as we all know, nothing is better for improving our economy than the threat of separation!

  24. JJM >
    “What exactly is the point in a country where the constituent parts sense no common obligation to help out each other?”
    Exactly!
    Which is precisely why we need to start separating Canada into manageable countries that reflect the customs and traditions of it’s various demographics.
    We’ll start with Quebec, then the First Nations, then the Western Prairie provinces. China already mostly owns BC, and the Atlantic Provinces well whatever they want……..”Hope & Change” baby!

  25. Ken:
    I’m in!
    Totally agree with your thoughts, they echo mine. My contacts with the east are limited. I have a sister-in-law who works for the Feds. As diplomat as they are, both her and her husband, simply believe the best leadership for the country is in the east. The west is a province that should compliment that governance with money and not much else. In actual fact the west is a threat to eastern interest. Not that different than the attitudes of most people there.
    The strength of the CDN$ was blamed on the petro dollar. A cheaper $ would revive eastern manufacturing. Well how is that working? Employment gains since the $ collapse has been a direct result of government hiring or subsidized industry beholdened to government.
    I have a deep anger for the CPC and their absolute failure to follow an agenda that openly discussed the major issues facing Canada. Equalization is a obvious one that has been discussed on here. Another I would put forward is the fundamental differences between Canada and the USA economies ability to service government debt. Contrary to general citizen understanding debt levels between the two countries is comparable. The difference is that Canada’s ability to pay debt is significantly poorer. Canada’s export wealth is primarily based on resource export. In a commodity bear market the ‘profit’ from such exports deteriorate quickly.
    If the deflationary cycle being experienced continues or worsens as forecasted and if the Liebels run $30 billion deficits that are now rumoured Canada’s economy will quickly collapse. Once that happens I suggest the unity of the country will quickly come into question as finger pointing and money grabbing accelerates.

Proudly powered by WordPress & Skyrocket Themes

MENU

Navigation