VOICE FOR THE WEST
Danielle Smith’s column back
The last time I wrote for the Calgary Herald, Alberta separatism was at an all-time high. I guess it’s fitting that more than 10 years later I’m returning to writing for the Herald when separatist sentiments may be even higher.
A bit of history: Back in August 2005 the Western Standard, spearheaded by then-publisher Ezra Levant, commissioned a poll asking the question, Do you agree or disagree that western Canadians should begin to explore the idea of forming their own country? Remarkably, 43 per cent of Albertans agreed, with relatively high levels of support for the concept in B.C. (32.1 per cent), Saskatchewan (33.6 per cent) and Manitoba (28.8 per cent).
At the time, the breaking point for Albertans was the sponsorship scandal, Adscam, when it was revealed that taxpayer money was flowing to Liberal-connected ad firms in Quebec that did no work for the money but employed an army of Liberal organizers and operatives with the sole aim of continuing to elect Liberal MPs. On a wave of national outrage, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper became prime minister in February 2006 and separatist sentiment evaporated. Now it’s back.
It’s back because Albertans are fed up with Quebec, the grand leech of Confederation. CAQ Premier Francois Legault lit the match when he killed the idea of restarting Energy East and declared there was no social acceptability for oil in Quebec. Well, guess what? There’s no social acceptability in Alberta for sending Quebec any more of our money.
One has to wonder if the tables were turned, what would Quebec do? What would Quebec do if Canada refused to approve the construction of transmission lines across provincial and international borders? What would Quebec do if the federal government announced that its goal was to phase out its high carbon dioxide emitting industries like the aerospace industry, cement, aluminum and steel? What would Quebec do if their taxpayers paid $5,265 more per person in federal taxes than they got back in federal spending ? (For Alberta, that’s a $21.8-billion net transfer; if Quebec paid in the equivalent to us, it would be a net transfer to Canada of $44.2 billion.)
I think we know the answer. They would have been gone ages ago.
This is the fundamental dysfunctionality of Canada. There should be no earthly reason why the second-most populous province in the country receives equalization at all. By virtue of being big, neither Quebec nor Ontario should ever receive transfers from smaller provinces. It’s like the bully in school who steals the smaller kids’ lunch money. Ontario has finally weaned itself of equalization again this year, but Quebec never will.
Think about that for a moment. Alberta’s economy and finances have been devastated by the collapse in WCS prices. We have estimates of 130,000 jobs lost — though I’m sure it is higher if you include independent contractors and consultants. We are running an $8-billion annual deficit. We have surpassed $50 billion in debt. Yet under the equalization formula, we don’t qualify for a payment from Canada.
Then look at Quebec.
They boast a $3-billion surplus. They’ve paid off $10 billion in debt in recent years. They have a lower unemployment rate than we do. They also seem to have the money to afford programs that we can’t: a health system that covers extras like fertility treatment, $7 a day daycare, reduced university tuition, subsidized hydroelectric power, to name just a few.
Yet not only do they still qualify for equalization, they qualify for even more next year — a $1.4-billion boost taking their federal transfer booty to $13 billion.
This is the nut of equalization: There is no conceivable way that Alberta will ever be devastated enough to qualify for payments, and there is no conceivable way Quebec will ever be well off enough to pay in. It is a rigged system. Just another scam.
UCP Leader Jason Kenney has already announced that, if elected, he will hold a referendum to change equalization and I suspect he could win on that issue alone.
That is just the beginning, though. Canada should consider itself on notice. Albertans have had enough. In a return to the Calgary Herald, this is the first regular column that will appear every other week on these pages and online.