Alberta needs a firewall, the sooner the better

Danielle Smith says the numbers show how unfair the equalization system is.

If ever there was a time for Alberta to resurrect the firewall concept, that time is now.

I was struck by this after reading Montreal journalist Taylor C. Noakes’s rebuttal to my first column on the unfairness of equalization. I am glad he wrote his column, because it helps us understand why Quebecers don’t feel one shred of guilt about how much money they receive from Canada, and it confirms that they really are out to destroy our energy industry.

You’ll recall the firewall letter was authored by Stephen Harper, Tom Flanagan, Ted Morton, Andy Crooks, Rainer Knopff and Ken Boessenkool in 2001. It argued for Alberta to assert itself in its areas of constitutional jurisdiction over health care, policing, public pensions and collecting our own personal income taxes.

I would especially love for Alberta to collect all taxes and remit the federal portion to Ottawa, rather than the other way around. Because then it would make it very clear to Noakes and others just how much money is generated by Alberta to the benefit of the country.

Noakes argues that no province pays for any of the services provided by any other province, because equalization comes from the federal treasury, which means it is funded entirely from federal tax revenues. I’ll show you how the numbers break down and let you be the judge of that.

In 2017, according to Statistics Canada, the federal government generated $50.3 billion from Alberta taxpayers and only spent $28.5 billion in Alberta — a net transfer to Ottawa of $21.8 billion. Albertans pay more in federal taxes than we get back in federal spending. It is this difference that goes in part to support the equalization program.

Meanwhile, the federal government generated $53.7 billion from Quebec taxpayers and spent $70.1 billion in Quebec — a net transfer to Quebec of $16.4 billion.

To suggest that rich Quebecers are somehow shouldering the burden of equalization is absurd. Quebecers don’t pay anything into equalization because the province receives more in overall federal spending than Quebecers pay in federal taxes. The extra money comes from taxpayers in other provinces, with Alberta taxpayers paying the largest share.

Even more alarming was Noakes’s admission that Quebec really does want to destroy our energy industry. If he had his way, all non-renewable energy resources would be gone in a decade to give us, as he describes it, “a slim chance at surviving climate change.” By all means let’s work to reduce greenhouse gases, but let’s not act as if the planet will be unsurvivable in a decade if we don’t. And let’s not be deluded into thinking that shutting down Alberta’s energy industry is the answer to reducing global emissions.

Noakes claims that Alberta is among the highest-emitting jurisdictions in the world. It isn’t even close. Alberta has about 270 megatonnes in annual greenhouse gas emissions. China has 10,641 MT. The U.S. has 5,172 MT. India has 2,454 MT. In fact, each of these countries’ annual growth in emissions exceeds our overall output. If we ever had negotiators worth their salt at the bargaining table for international climate conferences, they would be arguing to include our forests, grasslands and soils as carbon offsets, declare Canada a net carbon sink and demand payments from China, the U.S. and India for helping to sequester their emissions.

Lastly, Noakes argues that it is perfectly legitimate for Quebec to block our pipelines because all provinces are “internally sovereign” and they can’t be bullied into doing the bidding of another province. Never mind Section 121 of the 1867 Constitution, which states: “All Articles of the Growth, Produce, or Manufacture of any one of the Provinces shall, from and after the Union, be admitted free into each of the other Provinces.” If we don’t even have free trade in Canada, one wonders what the purpose of the country is in the first place.

If Noakes is representative of the prevailing attitudes in Quebec, then Albertans should take action. It’s time we begin to assert our internal sovereignty. Let’s build that firewall.