Jointly written by the Editorial Board of the Western Standard.Albertans are a generous and patriotic people, but the exploitive nature of Canada’s fiscal federalism is turning many away from an unquestioning salute of the maple leaf. .Since Canada’s centennial year in 1967, Alberta has contributed a net $600 billion more to the rest of Canada than it has received back in transfers and spending, despite our relatively small size..Albertans make a net contribution of $15-27 billion in an average year, over $3 billion of which goes toward the $20 billion equalization program. Albertans pay another$3 billion (net) in the Canada Health Transfer and Canada Social Transfer more than is returned back to the province. .All in, the average family of four in Alberta pays $20,000 a year in extra taxes that are sent directly to Quebec and other recipient provinces, after being laundered in Ottawa..Many Albertans may not have minded this kind of charity in good times, but in tough times, Canada has not been there for Alberta beyond token trinkets. When Alberta needs to build pipelines to tidewater in order to keep producing the wealth that gets sent to others, many of those others stand in the way. .Quebec – which receives more than $12 billion a year – has rejected the construction of pipelines that would transport what its premier calls “dirty oil” across her territory. The federal government – which is supposed to be the guarantor of the free movement of goods, services, and capital across all of Canada – has barely lifted a finger. In fact, the Liberal, Conservative, NDP, and Bloc Quebecois leaders have all promised voters in Quebec that no pipeline would be constructed there without their support. .And what constitutes support? In British Columbia, the clear majority of people support pipeline construction, but governments have kowtowed to a vocal, radical minority. .This is because Alberta simply doesn’t matter politically. Our economy is big enough to pay the bills, but our population is too small to decide elections. .Alberta is underrepresented in the House of Commons and wildly discriminated against in the Senate, where we hold almost half the seats of tiny New Brunswick, but have twice the population of all four Atlantic provinces combined. When we try to elect our own senators, the federal government more often-than-not ignores the democratic will of Albertans. .It’s time to fight back. The first big step in this is voting ‘yes’ to remove equalization from the Canadian constitution on October 18. To be clear, this will not actually result in the removal of equalization from the constitution on October 19. What it will do, however, is trigger a constitutional obligation on the part of the federal and other provincial governments to negotiate the issue, as the Supreme Court ruled in the Quebec Secession Reference case of 1998. .In that case, the court ruled that if a clear majority of Quebecers voted ‘yes’ on a clear question of independence, then the rest of Canada would be constitutionally obliged to negotiate in good faith. Unspoken however, was the threat that in the event that the rest of Canada did not negotiate in good faith, that Quebec could make a unilateral declaration of independence; something that could only be circumvented by a military invasion of the province and the forceful deposition of its government; a prospect laughable in its improbability..Alberta is not voting on independence however. It is voting on removing a confiscatory policy principle from the constitution. But what unspoken threat does Alberta have if the rest of Canada fails to negotiate in good faith? As yet, there is none. The Alberta government has pre-emptively taken more dramatic options off the table. This is a mistake. .There are several organizations across Alberta that have done excellent work making the case for abolition, reform, and alternatives, including Fairness Alberta, the Alberta Institute, Project Confederation, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, FightEqualization.ca, and others. .Missing in the campaign was Alberta Premier Jason Kenney. He has wisely decided to keep a low profile, knowing that his unpopularity could jeopardize a successful ‘yes’ vote. While some Albertans may wish to send the premier a message by voting ‘no’ to what they perceive as his pet project, this would be a grievous error. It would be cutting off our nose to spite our face. .The project of an equalization referendum goes back well before Kenney even considered going into provincial politics, to a report from the old Wildrose Party’s Equalization Fairness Panel in 2016. .There are positive signs that Albertans are putting the fight for a fair deal above partisan politics. A Mainstreet Research poll conducted for the Western Standard found that a 66% majority of Albertans intend to vote ‘yes’ on October 18. That poll saw that a majority in every region of Alberta – Edmonton, Calgary, rural north, and rural south – all intend to cast a ballot for change to the status quo. And while a majority of NDP voters intend to vote for the status quo, a sizeable minority of them intend to break ranks and vote with the rest of Alberta. .A big ‘yes’ vote to kill equalization will not end those payments overnight, and frankly, they are unlikely to yield any reform whatsoever without a clear “or else” option for Ottawa and Quebec to ponder; but without it, we are endorsing the status quo of an exploitative federal system that is unworthy of Canada’s history. .On October 18, we encourage Albertans to send Ottawa a message. On October 19, we encourage Albertans to make sure that our provincial government doesn’t let Ottawa forget it. .Jointly written by the Editorial Board of the Western Standard
