“Today I’m excited to announce that I am going to make Alberta the 51st state, I really am,” said President Trump. .Okay, actually that was a parody news article from the CBC. But, to continue with the This Hour Has 22 Minutessketch….“Alberta, come with us, come be the Hannah to our Montana. I’d like to congratulate Alberta on its decision to separate from Canada. Face it, Canada’s best days are over. It’s time for Alberta to get a divorce and move on to a hotter country, it really is.”.That joke just got real with the latest employment stats..The United States picked up 266,000 new jobs in November, including 54,000 ones in manufacturing. Average hourly earnings were up 3.1 percent. Unemployment was at 3.5 per cent, a mark not seen since 1969. .“This is the best number I’ve ever seen in my life!” Jim Cramer told CNBC..And Canada? Canada lost 71,000 jobs in November. That’s the worst since the “Great Recession” of 2009! .The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr. tweeted, “For perspective the US is about 10X the population of Canada so this would be the equivalent of America shedding 700,000 jobs. Yikes! Maybe Justin should watch @realDonaldTrump & learn how to create jobs… or go back to being a substitute drama teacher. Either way Canada wins!”.So what’s happening now?.Sean Hannity thinks he knows. “Under the far-left leadership of that two-faced Trudeau, our friends to the north in Canada, their economy is declining in a massive way.”.The truth hurts. Unemployment is 5.9 per cent nationally, and 7.2 per cent in Alberta – the worst anywhere west of the Maritimes..“Now Trudeau, you might want to take note,” Hannity says. “President Trump, he lowered taxes in this country, got rid of burdensome regulation, fought for better trade deals—yeah, you have to pay more, and empowered America and its energy sector. We are not for the first time in 75 years a net exporter of energy. And by the way now Canada, you’re suffering. This economy in America is the envy of the world.”.Yeah, we know..Canada could do the right thing to make Alberta and all the provinces strong, but it doesn’t. The best that Ottawa offers Alberta is more socialism to compensate for the socialism and stupidity that created the low performance in the first place. .For example, when job losses hit the oil patch in 2016, Trudeau gave effected workers an extra 5 weeks of Employment Insurance. Almost $9 billion vanished from the Alberta budget, but Equalization and other programs continued to drain a net $20 billion from Alberta to Ottawa. Now all Premier Kenney can do is smile about a chance at more a billion dollars and change it might receive from the Fiscal Stabilization Fund, which he has renamed the “Equalization Rebate,” which it most certainly is not. .Alberta and Saskatchewan don’t need a federal government that punches it in the gut, and then walks alongside while it tries to catch its breath. It wants to prosper by its own labour. Canada ties up the west with cords and strands, while the United States is letting industry be. . . industrious..Compare the two country’s approach to regulation. Canadian oil country braces for the “no pipelines” Bill C-69. All they can do is beg Ottawa to let them have purely provincial in-situ oil development left alone..Trump took a hatchet to red tape. He cut 22 regulations for every new one introduced. Whereas Trudeau banned the Northern Gateway pipeline and oil tankers from northern B.C., Trump repealed Obama-era regulations for resource development in domestic waters. .When a Montana court blocked Keystone XL claiming that environmental consultation was inadequate, Trump took only two days to respond. He cancelled the old approval and made a new one by executive order. Trudeau was less than feisty in similar circumstances. When a judge in B.C. quashed the TMX pipeline expansion over apparent First Nations and environmental consultation issues, the Trudeau government didn’t even challenge it. It started new consultations, ones that environmental groups are already challenging in court for their supposed inadequacy..The Liberal government signed us onto the Paris Climate Accord and the Conservatives supported it. Trump revoked Obama’s signature. There’s no federal carbon tax there, unlike in Canada, where it is set to rise through 2022—and probably again thereafter to meet those aggressive climate targets..Alberta has its own ideas for 2022. It will continue its corporate tax reductions until then. At that point, the provincial portion will be 30 percent lower than its closest provincial rival. Yet, six U.S. states will have a better state-federal combined rate, including Texas. Alas, Alberta can’t do anything about federal taxes. It’s one of many reasons that business is leaving Alberta to go stateside..Additionally, everyone working south of the border will pay less personal income taxes. Whereas Trudeau created new tax brackets for those making more than $200,000 (a group disproportionately found in Alberta), Trump reduced taxes across the board at both personal and corporate levels. Keeping what you work for—that’s the Alberta ethic. Constant theft by Ottawa, then begging for a little back is not.. Trudeau on WE scandal: Case closed .When Gwyn Morgan left his role as Encana’s CEO in 2006, it had the highest stock value of any Canadian-headquartered company. Now it’s an American company with a new name. Last month, he wrote, “the re-election of a national government ideologically opposed to the oil and gas industry’s very existence . . . struck the final blow to Encana as a Canadian headquartered company.”.It’s enough to make some wish that Trump comedy skit was real..“America is going to wear Alberta like a tiny little MAGA hat. It’s time to make MAGA stand for: Make Alberta Great Again,” said the parodied Trump..“And if they’re not careful, I’m gonna grab Saskatchewan right by the Regina! When you’re famous you can do that, you really can, they let you.”.Or not. It’s unlikely a real-world Trump will add Alberta and Saskatchewan to make the United States into a 52-state deck of cards. But there’s reasons to wish he would..In 2016, Trump told his supporters, “You are going to be so proud of your country. And we’re going to start winning again . . . we’re going to win so much, you may even get tired of winning!”.By now, winning is America’s reality. Canada, not so much. .Lee Harding is the Saskatchewan Political Columnist for the Western Standard
“Today I’m excited to announce that I am going to make Alberta the 51st state, I really am,” said President Trump. .Okay, actually that was a parody news article from the CBC. But, to continue with the This Hour Has 22 Minutessketch….“Alberta, come with us, come be the Hannah to our Montana. I’d like to congratulate Alberta on its decision to separate from Canada. Face it, Canada’s best days are over. It’s time for Alberta to get a divorce and move on to a hotter country, it really is.”.That joke just got real with the latest employment stats..The United States picked up 266,000 new jobs in November, including 54,000 ones in manufacturing. Average hourly earnings were up 3.1 percent. Unemployment was at 3.5 per cent, a mark not seen since 1969. .“This is the best number I’ve ever seen in my life!” Jim Cramer told CNBC..And Canada? Canada lost 71,000 jobs in November. That’s the worst since the “Great Recession” of 2009! .The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr. tweeted, “For perspective the US is about 10X the population of Canada so this would be the equivalent of America shedding 700,000 jobs. Yikes! Maybe Justin should watch @realDonaldTrump & learn how to create jobs… or go back to being a substitute drama teacher. Either way Canada wins!”.So what’s happening now?.Sean Hannity thinks he knows. “Under the far-left leadership of that two-faced Trudeau, our friends to the north in Canada, their economy is declining in a massive way.”.The truth hurts. Unemployment is 5.9 per cent nationally, and 7.2 per cent in Alberta – the worst anywhere west of the Maritimes..“Now Trudeau, you might want to take note,” Hannity says. “President Trump, he lowered taxes in this country, got rid of burdensome regulation, fought for better trade deals—yeah, you have to pay more, and empowered America and its energy sector. We are not for the first time in 75 years a net exporter of energy. And by the way now Canada, you’re suffering. This economy in America is the envy of the world.”.Yeah, we know..Canada could do the right thing to make Alberta and all the provinces strong, but it doesn’t. The best that Ottawa offers Alberta is more socialism to compensate for the socialism and stupidity that created the low performance in the first place. .For example, when job losses hit the oil patch in 2016, Trudeau gave effected workers an extra 5 weeks of Employment Insurance. Almost $9 billion vanished from the Alberta budget, but Equalization and other programs continued to drain a net $20 billion from Alberta to Ottawa. Now all Premier Kenney can do is smile about a chance at more a billion dollars and change it might receive from the Fiscal Stabilization Fund, which he has renamed the “Equalization Rebate,” which it most certainly is not. .Alberta and Saskatchewan don’t need a federal government that punches it in the gut, and then walks alongside while it tries to catch its breath. It wants to prosper by its own labour. Canada ties up the west with cords and strands, while the United States is letting industry be. . . industrious..Compare the two country’s approach to regulation. Canadian oil country braces for the “no pipelines” Bill C-69. All they can do is beg Ottawa to let them have purely provincial in-situ oil development left alone..Trump took a hatchet to red tape. He cut 22 regulations for every new one introduced. Whereas Trudeau banned the Northern Gateway pipeline and oil tankers from northern B.C., Trump repealed Obama-era regulations for resource development in domestic waters. .When a Montana court blocked Keystone XL claiming that environmental consultation was inadequate, Trump took only two days to respond. He cancelled the old approval and made a new one by executive order. Trudeau was less than feisty in similar circumstances. When a judge in B.C. quashed the TMX pipeline expansion over apparent First Nations and environmental consultation issues, the Trudeau government didn’t even challenge it. It started new consultations, ones that environmental groups are already challenging in court for their supposed inadequacy..The Liberal government signed us onto the Paris Climate Accord and the Conservatives supported it. Trump revoked Obama’s signature. There’s no federal carbon tax there, unlike in Canada, where it is set to rise through 2022—and probably again thereafter to meet those aggressive climate targets..Alberta has its own ideas for 2022. It will continue its corporate tax reductions until then. At that point, the provincial portion will be 30 percent lower than its closest provincial rival. Yet, six U.S. states will have a better state-federal combined rate, including Texas. Alas, Alberta can’t do anything about federal taxes. It’s one of many reasons that business is leaving Alberta to go stateside..Additionally, everyone working south of the border will pay less personal income taxes. Whereas Trudeau created new tax brackets for those making more than $200,000 (a group disproportionately found in Alberta), Trump reduced taxes across the board at both personal and corporate levels. Keeping what you work for—that’s the Alberta ethic. Constant theft by Ottawa, then begging for a little back is not.. Trudeau on WE scandal: Case closed .When Gwyn Morgan left his role as Encana’s CEO in 2006, it had the highest stock value of any Canadian-headquartered company. Now it’s an American company with a new name. Last month, he wrote, “the re-election of a national government ideologically opposed to the oil and gas industry’s very existence . . . struck the final blow to Encana as a Canadian headquartered company.”.It’s enough to make some wish that Trump comedy skit was real..“America is going to wear Alberta like a tiny little MAGA hat. It’s time to make MAGA stand for: Make Alberta Great Again,” said the parodied Trump..“And if they’re not careful, I’m gonna grab Saskatchewan right by the Regina! When you’re famous you can do that, you really can, they let you.”.Or not. It’s unlikely a real-world Trump will add Alberta and Saskatchewan to make the United States into a 52-state deck of cards. But there’s reasons to wish he would..In 2016, Trump told his supporters, “You are going to be so proud of your country. And we’re going to start winning again . . . we’re going to win so much, you may even get tired of winning!”.By now, winning is America’s reality. Canada, not so much. .Lee Harding is the Saskatchewan Political Columnist for the Western Standard
