RE: Doug James' 'What did Harper do to help?'
I want to respond to Mr. James criticism concerning my source of figures. These financial numbers were taken directly from Statistics Canada and he can confirm these himself. Specifically, for the period 2011-18; “Alberta’s tax contribution to Ottawa in 2011 was $17.88 billion, in 2012, $19.23 billion, in 2013, $23.51 billion, in 2014, $27.05 billion, in 2015, $25.36 billion, in 2016, $21.81 billion, in 2017, $21.8 billion and in 2018, $19,987 billion, for a total transfer payment to federal coffers of $239.847 billion dollars, an average of $19.987 billion per year.
The $365 million received by B.C. that Mr. James questioned and that appeared in my earlier rebuttal to Mr. Perras, covered only equalization payments received by B.C. for the years in question of 2011-18. Statistics Canada’s current listings for the 10 year period 2012-22 state that B.C. actually received $6686.7 million annually in federal transfer payments, including equalization. What shouldn’t surprise readers including Mr. James, is that during both period in question, every Canadian province received some level of equalization except Alberta and Saskatchewan.
There’s a history lesson here. In 1904, Canada’s Interior Minister Clifford Sifton told parliament; “We desire, that the great trade of the Prairies shall go to enrich our own people in the East, to build up our factories and the workshops of Eastern Canada and contribute in everyway to its prosperity”. Note the phrase “to enrich our own people in the East”! How prophetic that Sifton was laying the groundwork for the theft that has gone on unabated since 1905.
I agree with Mr. James regarding Harper, who had nine years to build pipelines both East and West. Harper's continued equalization program support was only about politics. Here’s why; based on population, Alberta should have at least 51 parliamentary seats instead of 34, but the existing breakdown of parliamentary and senate seats favour every province except Alberta and Saskatchewan. Harper (and every Conservative Prime Minister), knew that the equalization program was the golden goose for the remaining provinces. As such, these politicians kept the program in place as incentive vote getting, particularly in Quebec and the Maritimes.
In conclusion, it is my opinion that Canada as it’s currently structured, is a broken nation.
L. (Tex) Leugner,
Cochrane
