Are Albertans really paying for Quebec’s social programs?

s_lone

Council Member
Feb 16, 2005
2,233
30
48
43
Montreal
Are Albertans really paying for Quebec’s social programs?
April 20, 2012

Michael Holden is the Senior Economist at the Canada West Foundation. Canada West Foundation is the only think tank dedicated to being the objective, nonpartisan voice for issues of vital concern to Western Canadians.

Student protests in Quebec have triggered a curious response from some observers. Appalled that Quebecers have the audacity to protest tuition fees rising from the lowest in the country to possibly the second-lowest, they opine that the only reason Quebec can afford such fees in the first place is on the back of the Alberta taxpayer. As the narrative goes, Quebec’s low tuition, $7-a-day daycare and other generous social programs are all being paid for by hard-working Albertans who could only dream of affording such luxuries themselves.

This story appeals to Albertans convinced that Ottawa and Quebec are stealing our wealth, but this is simply not the case. Let’s start with the idea that Alberta sends money to Quebec. This is incorrect on two levels.

continued here
 

captain morgan

Hall of Fame Member
Mar 28, 2009
28,429
148
63
A Mouse Once Bit My Sister


Let's do some quick math on this.

Que will receive approx $7 billion this year.... Accordingly, AB will be providing the lion's share of those monies into the system.

That said, if Que is not capable of funding it's social programs without the $7 billion from the Feds and AB is contributing the majority of the funds - it's pretty fair to say that AB is funding the majority of Que's social programs.

Semantics


So are racial epithets
 

Liberalman

Senate Member
Mar 18, 2007
5,623
35
48
Toronto
Ontario gets to suck the money out of Alberta since it was Ontario money and know how that built the province of Alberta. and made some dumb farmers rich and taught them to be gentlemen and Ontario raised the Albertans higher on the food chain.
 

damngrumpy

Executive Branch Member
Mar 16, 2005
9,949
21
38
kelowna bc
I thought this whole confederation was about family known as Canadians period.
Quebec does get money, and so does Ontario and God knows who else. the idea
also comes from the number of people who live in a given area receiving services.
For example, NS and other Maritime Provinces will sooner or later take less of the
money because they are finding resources to offset the balance here.
Alberta the last time I looked was not an island unto themselves they are part of
Canada. There was a time when Albertans were hunting gophers for their tales
to make ends meet. Jed Clampett found oil at Leduc and the picture changed.
What annoys me about Canadians, is this, we put down what ever group finds a new
way to make a buck and contribute to the future of Canada. Right now everyone is
out to make remarks about Alberta. In centuries past everyone disliked NS because
they had coal and so on, then it was Quebec and Ontario and now its Alberta who is
the rich cousin. Its time we understood we are one country and we really need to grow
up all of us including Alberta. If the east had not developed first no one would have
headed west and this would be a wasteland awaiting development. Albertans
cannot claim they are better than anyone else they came from the east and continued
progress, and the east cannot claim they are superior because it was family members
who came west. Can't we just develop and share a country?
 

taxslave

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 25, 2008
36,362
4,340
113
Vancouver Island
Ontario gets to suck the money out of Alberta since it was Ontario money and know how that built the province of Alberta. and made some dumb farmers rich and taught them to be gentlemen and Ontario raised the Albertans higher on the food chain.

What comedy club do you work in?