juan said:
Wasn't there some Alberta Conservative politician that gave every Albertan about four hundred dollars? I don't suppose that could be considered vote buying though could it?
Not only is it vote buying with their own money, but there should be far more of it. Ralphie swung a worse deal for Alberta than Nigeria got.
Hanky said:
hmmm vote buying ......you ignore the fact that Klein will not be running in the next election because he announced he will retire in 2006.....so how's that vote buying?.
So the Alberta Conservative Party is going to fold? I don't think so. You are also ignoring that the money will hopefully garner votes for the federal Conservatives, since they are twisted up with Ralphie.
Hanky said:
now I know $400 does not seem like much...but consider I have a family of four living in our house....so our cheques will total to $1600.....and we are deciding that this Jan or Feb we will be taking a trip to Mexico and a large chunk of it will be covered.
See, when you give money to the wrong people, it flees the local economy.
over taxing Canadians is a hugh problem in Canada currently.......can anyone here explain why the government is pulling is such large surpluses not to mention the fact that they are constantly low balling figures?
Because they are underfunding social programs.
Hanky said:
recently it has been found that the feds will run up close to $40 billion in surpluses in the next three years.....the surplus is expected to reach 11.4 Billion this fiscal year...which is not surprisingly around $7billion more than was projected in the budget....and without tax cuts it will just keep getting larger...but I guess the liberals are being preassured to announce some income tax cuts prior to the next election....hmmm lets see how much of our money the pigs give back..
The most recent bill has any surplus being split between tax cuts, social programs, and debt reduction. You should follow the news instead of repeating the spin.
Mr. Mom said:
That over bloated windbag house needs to be gotten rid of period .Its a huge waste of tax money and does a whole lot of nothing .i say abolish it what the feck do we need it for .Give the power to the provinces and dump Ottawa
Considering that your province teeters between being a have and a have not province and your present premier would rob you even blinder if he could, you might want to re-think that, Momsie.
Hanky said:
I don't know about abolishing Ottawa it would probably just lead to 13 countries.....but I wonder what would happed if there was no equilization payments ...I mean if all the provinces were forced to become more efficient and self dependent would it lead to a stronger Canadian economy?
Equalisation payments are currently leading to a stronger economy in all of the regions. That's where a good portion of the money for economic diversity and R&D comes from, as well as money for health and education. That money pays for infrastructure and programs that develop and attract business.
No1 said:
Yeah but Alberta lucked out with having all that oil. What about years down the road when it has run out or more envirnonmentally friendly fuels have been developed?
Will Alberta then be crying for handouts and bellyaching how everyone else got them on their backs? I would say yes.
You'd be right to say that too.
No1 said:
People would leave and crowd more provinces that are doing better job wise and financially, but an economy can only sustain so much importation (too much aint good) of people before the jobs run out and unemployment rise, then more people on UIC or welfare. Basically, it eventually it would send the problem somewhere else.
First Alberta would go Liberal, even NDP though. That's what happens when populations rise.
No1 said:
Thats why I believe in Canada first, all resources no matter where they are in Canada belong to all Canadians and all resources monies should go to feds then divided up based on population to each province.
That makes sense in a lot of ways. First of all, the individual provinces are benefitting through jobs, etc. Second of all we are an exporting nation and only the federal government can swing trade deals. Third of all, it would encourage other resources to be developed.
No1 said:
I also believe (and I know this wont be too popular of an opinion) the feds should be the only ones who run Health Care. They should take it over from the provinces as to get rid of duplication. By cutting out provincial bureaucrats we could have more money for health care.
That's true. Health care should be a federal responsibility. That'd get rid of the constant bickering between the provinces and the poaching of health care workers by provinces who refuse to invest in education and just pay higher wages instead.
Education should be run by the feds as well. Anybody who moved from province to province as a kid knows the standards are quite different from province to province and the curricula change so that you end up taking some stuff twice and miss other stuff completely. The only way to solve that is a national program and national standards.
[quote'Hanky"]no but I can't begin to explain how this would ruin many provinces......I mean Ontario has all the manufacturing so why should they get the same porportion of Alberta's oil money that Alberta get.[/quote]
Alberta would be getting a portion of Ontario's money too, Hanky. They have more money than you do.
