THE BLOC’S WAR ON ALBERTA
Oil, equalization and the strange provincial battle
The federal government comports itself like a petro-state, toadying up to oil companies, while Quebec, virtuously, produces planes and trains but no gas-powered automobiles, says the Bloc Québécois.
“Since it is a petro-state, Ottawa runs from failure to failure with inconsistent policies that spare oil companies in the West,” the platform reads.
But as much as it is anti-Ottawa, the Bloc is perhaps the most explicitly anti-Alberta it has ever been in its history. While Alberta and Quebec have in the past worked on shared concerns, the Bloc in its 2019 iteration sees little but Alberta taking Quebec’s money while having designs on its green fields and pastures for dirty pipelines.
“Oil provinces are very wealthy and have developed those resources with money from all across Canada, including Quebec,” said Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet at the English-language leaders’ debate. “Now, we have paid for development of oil in western Canada and you make us pay again with this idea of buying a pipeline over there.”
Martha Hall Findlay, president and CEO of the Canada West Foundation, an Alberta think tank, says “it somehow feels as though it felt they had to find another adversary” now that some of the historical linguistic and economic separatist grievances have faded. But, she says, it’s unfortunate — not a path Blanchet needed to go down.
“Almost half of the oil that is consumed in Quebec comes from Alberta, so in one breath to vilify the Alberta oil industry … and at the time half their oil coming from Alberta is hypocrisy,” she said.
Scheer had previously said the Conservatives would reach a balanced budget within two years but then moved the goal post to five years. Under their plan, Conservatives would run a $23-billion deficit in 2020-2021 but reach a $667 million surplus after five years.
The Liberals said the Conservatives’ platform amounted to tens of billions of dollars in needless and painful cuts.
“We know that investing in Canadians … is actually the way to grow the economy, is the way to build resilience when the world is facing challenging times,” Liberal leader Justin Trudeau told reporters.
Under the Conservatives’ signature “universal tax cut,” Canadians making under $47,360 would see their tax rate drop gradually from 15 per cent to 13.75 per cent by 2023. This would result in a projected savings of $440 for an individual and $850 for a couple, according to the platform.
The Conservatives would also repeal the Liberals’ carbon tax. The platform claims that if the Liberals are given another mandate, price of gas would increase 31.1 cents per litre.
The party said it would also introduce new tax credits. To encourage green home renovations, for instance, the party is proposing a twoyear, 20 per cent refundable tax credit to help with renovations costing between $1,000 and $20,000.
For new parents, a tax credit will be applied to income earned under EI maternity and EI parental benefits.
To make up for revenue shortfalls, the Conservatives said they would control spending on infrastructure. While they would spend the same $187 billion as the Liberals on infrastructure, it would be spread out over 15 years instead of 12. Accusing the Liberals of allowing 40 per cent of its infrastructure funds to lapse unused in the first two years of its mandate, Scheer told reporters the Conservatives would ensure that all infrastructure projects that have been signed off on are carried out.
“We’re going to see those through and we’re going to put in place a responsible plan that actually gets money out the door and shovels in the ground.”
The Conservatives’ biggest measure for achieving a balanced budget would come in the form of $53 billion in cuts to government spending over five years. While maintaining full-time staffing levels, the Conservatives would control government operating expenses, such as on travel and procurement, and sell off government office space. Scheer said spending on “exorbitant” consultants fees would also be reined in.
The Conservatives say $1.5 billion would be saved by reviewing all business subsidies, grants and contributions. Large multinational tech companies would be hit with a three per cent tax on revenues if they rake in more than $1 billion in global revenue and $50 million in Canada.
Foreign aid would also be reduced by $1.5 billion and $700 million would be redirected to the poorest countries and to support for children in conflict zones.
Trudeau has not committed to a timeline to a balanced budget — his platform projects $27.4 billion in red ink next year, dropping to $21 billion by the fourth year of a new mandate. During the 2015 election, Trudeau campaigned on a platform of running deficits in the near-term to boost the economy but said he would get to a balanced budget by the end of his mandate. That did not happen.
The NDP’s Jagmeet Singh has similarly not committed to a balanced budget timeline, instead opting to focus on spending on renewable energy, health and education. National Post, with files from