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Ryan Strome

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Everything posted by Ryan Strome

  1. This is the issue with guys like you that spend all your time on American discussions. I have more than a few times pointed out that Harper changed the equalization program which is screwing Alberta. I also didn't vote for Harper or Scheer. I see it differently, those flying home are directly benefiting their local and provincial economies while making that money in Alberta. There has to be give and take and a province shouldn't be punished for not having taxes. Let's face it if Alberta was Ontario or Quebec they formula would be changed, you know that, Jim.
  2. Last post to you. The study by the Fraser Institute — a conservative, free market policy think tank — found the province contributed $221.4 billion more in revenue than it received in federal transfer payments and other services in those years. That works out to about $5,000 per Albertan, per year, according to Ben Eisen, director of the Fraser Institute’s Alberta Prosperity Initiative. “It’s really impossible to get away from the fact that without a strong Alberta, without Alberta’s contribution to Canada and to federal finances, our federal finances would be an absolute mess,” Eisen said. https://globalnews.ca/news/3594737/alberta-gives-more-than-it-gets-from-federal-government-fraser-institute/ “Alberta has been feeding our kids for a long time with the royalties, with the money that has come from oil,” Higgs said, acknowledging that his province’s budget derives 30 per cent of its budget from equalization payments. https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/corbella-quebec-gets-1-4b-more-of-our-money-in-return-alberta-gets-kicked If you’re still wondering why oil-rich Alberta doesn’t have a massive sovereign wealth fund like Norway, consider this. Alberta is a province, not a country. Ergo, we don’t get to keep all the wealth we generate in this province. Not even close. I realize this runs counter to the preferred narrative in Canada, where politicians and media types insist Alberta either “put all its eggs in one basket” by failing to diversify its economy (hello Christy Clark), or that Albertans “spent like drunken sailors” during boom times. Sure, there’s some truth to those arguments. But the far bigger reason why Alberta isn’t rolling in filthy lucre is that we are part of a federation called Canada. Ergo, most of our tax revenues go to Ottawa, and are then redistributed to fund a vast array of social, health and educational programs in Quebec, the Maritimes and the rest of Canada. The federal equalization program alone, under which Quebec receives nearly $10 billion a year, is just part of that wealth transfer. When economists say Alberta has been Canada’s key engine of growth in recent decades, that’s really what they mean. Without Alberta’s energy wealth, this country would have been a fiscal basket case long ago. Now that Alberta’s oil-fired economy is also struggling, Canada is heading for the fiscal swamp. So just how much money has flowed out of Alberta to Ottawa? A lot. Between 2000 and 2014, on a net basis, Alberta’s individual and corporate taxpayers shipped an estimated $200 billion-plus to the federal government. That’s what left the province, less what the feds reinvested here. To put that lofty figure in perspective, it’s nearly 12 times the value of the $17.4 billion Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund. No other province — including Ontario, with three times Alberta’s population — even comes close to matching this province’s contribution to the federation. During Alberta’s boom years, back in 2007 and 2008, the province’s taxpayers shipped more than $20 billion annually, on a net basis, to Ottawa. And when oil prices returned to triple-digit levels after the 2008-2009 recession, the cash gusher from this province returned. In 2011, for instance, it reached nearly $19 billion. Even more remarkable, few Canadians seem to be aware of this, except in the vaguest sense. Conspicuously, I’ve never seen these numbers reported in the national media or disclosed by federal and provincial politicians. https://edmontonjournal.com/opinion/columnists/gary-lamphier-how-much-money-has-flowed-out-of-alberta-to-ottawa-a-lot According to the most recent numbers from Statistics Canada, Albertans sent $49 billion worth of taxes to Ottawa in 2016, but only received $27.2 billion back in the form of federal spending. This equates to a “gap” of $21.8 billion. On average, it means that, in 2016, every Albertan paid $5,265 more into Confederation than they get back. It’s the largest single “gap” of any province. Ontario ranks in second place as a net contributor to Canada, but its “gap” is only $9 billion. Alberta’s chief enemy right now, B.C., also has a net loss in federal spending, although it was just $4.2 billion in 2016. https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/of-course-alberta-is-getting-fleeced-by-ottawa-just-not-in-the-way-you-think Research by economists Robert Mansell, Mukesh Kanal, and Jack Mintz concludes that Alberta has made a net contribution of $630 billion to the rest of Canada since 1960. In the last 11 years alone, the net transfer from Albertans to the rest of the country was $240 billion.That’s a personal contribution to Canada of $55,000 from each and every Albertan. For perspective, that’s 600 per cent more than the net per capita contribution of British Columbians and Ontarians – combined – over the same time. On an annual basis, Alberta taxpayers contribute about $23 billion more in federal taxes than they get back in services, or about $5,400 per person. We are proud to have helped our fellow Canadians when times have been good in Alberta, and bad elsewhere, contributing to schools, hospitals, pensions, and health care from coast to coast. But Alberta’s contribution to social progress and prosperity goes much deeper than just fiscal transfers. We punch above our weight in every economic category. For example StatsCan data shows that in 2018, despite all the challenges to our energy sector, oil and gas were by far Canada’s biggest exports – nearly twice the value of our next largest export industry, autos and auto parts. Alberta’s largest industry – oil and gas – is also Canada’s largest industry sub sector, larger than banking and financial services, 2.6 times larger than residential construction, and four times larger than telecommunications. And while we have 12 per cent of Canada’s population, Alberta typically generates one third of the investment, and one quarter of the job creation in the Canadian economy. Canadians depend disproportionately on Alberta’s energy sector for their financial security, with retirement savings and pensions invested heavily in energy stocks. Our energy sector has been Canada’s greatest engine of social mobility, moving tens of thousands of people without formal post secondary education into good middle class careers. This is demonstrated by the work of University of Ottawa economist Miles Corak. He has spent years analyzing intergenerational income mobility and plotting it on the map of Canada. Corak’s work finds Alberta is the best place in Canada to move from “rags to riches” – from the lowest income quintile to the highest. Alberta’s dynamic economy enables people to overcome socio-economic hurdles that are insurmountable in other parts of Canada, which is why so many have moved to Alberta over the years. It’s also why we enjoy by far the highest levels of indigenous employment and incomes in Canada, and better economic outcomes for immigrants as well. Allan Freeman, the long-time economics reporter who is now a Senior Fellow at the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, wrote this: “In the two decades between 1994 and 2014, Alberta’s GDP grew by an average of 3.5 per cent a year. The province, with something over 11 per cent of Canada’s population, accounted for 25 per cent of net new jobs for the entire country in the ten years to 2014… Resource [companies], led by the oilsands producers, invested $126 billion in their facilities, accounting for almost half of all non-residential capital investment in Canada. “We all benefited. Revenues from Alberta flowed into federal coffers, boosting overall growth … allowing Canada to avoid the worst of the Great Recession of 2008-09. Alberta provided a huge safety valve for surplus labour from other parts of the country. Thousands of skilled and not-so-skilled workers from the Atlantic provinces, Quebec and Ontario flocked to Fort McMurray for the high wages, sending money home like immigrants providing remittances to their families abroad.” Unquote. If not for Alberta’s huge tax contributions, even during tough recent years, Ottawa’s deficits would be far worse. Federal finance department data shows that without Alberta’s net contributions in just the last five years, the federal debt would be almost $100 billion higher than it is. https://policymagazine.ca/a-strong-alberta-for-a-united-canada/ So if @Jimmy McGill or anyone else wants to respond I will discuss but I'm done with you hip as I have no doubt u won't read a thing.
  3. I have already posted the links. Guess those drugs screwed your memory? And no you can't post 30 billion with another otherwise you would be lying. Anyway, bye hippy. You said I was on your block list which must be another one of your lies.
  4. CLUELESS warhippy!! Strome did not like the Ndp carbon tax. Plus what you posted is pretty simplistic. Both ones you posted are stupid and we can make our own if it's accepted. We could go cap and trade...oh wait your idol will only allow Quebec to do that.
  5. You post in Hope's to argue. If you put this much energy on work you could probably buy that house rather than cry constantly and hope someone else will pay for it for you.
  6. Lol 30 billion a year net from Alberta.
  7. @Warhippy if you don't like it leave the thread. Go to a different thread and talk about the 500,000 you have in the bank or the 20 continents and 9000 countries you have been to or extensive background in everything. Or maybe spend some time to figure out the name of the party you vote for. You're the uneducated voter people talk about...you didn't even know the name of the party you vote for lol. Honestly I'm probably done responding to you.
  8. Honestly you're completely clueless! I DON'T WANT A CARBON TAX IT HURTS ALBERTA AND IT'S A SCAM!! But if we have to have one I want a provincial one and sure af don't want the one the ndp had. Jk didn't negotiate anything. Just look at equalization. Numbers don't lie only hippies do.
  9. When you have been carrying the country for 45 years you earned the right to complain.
  10. I love how you didn't quote the whole sentence.
  11. I never said you were wrong and as you know I don't care for JK. But if your approval is around 43%(would still win a majority) you need to do what voters want. I told you guys before the party is far more popular than JK. JK has put a levy on big emitters. We are planting lots of trees but a carbon tax is out of the question. However if we lose that battle I would prefer the province look at it's own, not Ottawa's.
  12. The approval is the most important step. Oo good one. Like when I tell you Horgan played politics with TMX Kenney is no different playing politics. Won't benefit him in anyway politically to deal with JT.
  13. He's a columnist with them...wouldn't a photographer like you understand that lol. Anyway as long as hip can defend JT he doesn't care who suffers. You're a nothing...enjoy your minimal photography income it's just the way a socialist government works. Maybe one day you stand on your own and buy a home.
  14. When did the government say cool? Honestly dude are you blind, companies are on the fence because of this government. Not once have they promoted Canadian energy. It's a political thing for this government and it's so sad you defend it considering how many people it would benefit.
  15. @Jimmy McGill diplomacy no longer works.. @thedestroyerofworlds I promise if tmx gets done and frontier gets done I will vote liberal.
  16. So are you saying you support this project?
  17. Do you like his approach or no? I like it.. That question is fine but talking about something before the courts is inappropriate.
  18. Nah...tax had to be done. He needs the money and investors walked away. This project is a big deal...with this up and running and frontier a go I think wexit will be near dead, unfortunately for liberal supporters it won't benefit liberals it will keep things cpc but like i said any squashing of independence is a victory. Just like when Presto Manning praised Layton for killing the bloq.
  19. I doubt he will get props but with more people making good money and working the independence talk will likely die down. I'm sure you don't see that as a victory but I think any PM would call it a victory if independence talk died down.
  20. So we can't discuss it? If it was Trump we could discuss the future for 4000 pages..
  21. I'll tell you guys if they don't green light frontier independence will significantly climb. Bell: Trudeau arm-twists Alberta, play ball or no oilsands mine Justin Trudeau twists Alberta’s arm and he’s probably enjoying it. Putting the screws to Alberta. The prime minister knows Alberta wants this king-size Teck Frontier oilsands mine bad, real bad. More jobs, better economy. Premier Jason Kenney’s election promise. So Trudeau ups the ante. Time to squeeze Alberta. The one doing the dirty work is not Trudeau. He’s got his Mother Earth climate change warrior leading the charge, a North Vancouver guy by the name of Jonathan Wilkinson. Wilkinson speaks Tuesday. You don’t have to do a lot of reading between the lines to spot what is being called these days a quid pro quo, a this for that, a trade-off. You scratch my back, I might scratch yours. Yes, Wilkinson says before Teck oilsands mine gets a green light, Trudeau and his inner circle will look at how Alberta is helping Canada reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Alberta will have to play ball. Trudeau’s point man on climate change tells us it’s oh-so-important all provinces do their bit. They need to be acting to meet emission-reducing targets. Wait for it. Not done. Isn’t Alberta fighting Trudeau in court over the carbon tax the Liberals just imposed on Albertans? “The most recent actions are fighting the federal government on the issue of the pricing of pollution,” says Wilkinson, speaking of Alberta. Ouch. Why stop there? “I think what we’re looking for is concrete action on climate change.” Methinks this means Trudeau and company want more than what Alberta is doing now. If Alberta doesn’t get with the program, then Liberal Ottawa can say it’s the province’s fault the oilsands mine is not a go. It was Alberta’s project to lose. Jason Nixon is Kenney’s environment minister, a mince-no-words straight-shooter who gets his political cues from places like the hometown Sundre A&W and not from the virtue-signalling latte-lifters inhabiting the tonier reaches of B.C.’s Lower Mainland. It’s late Tuesday. Nixon is not a happy camper. He feels Trudeau’s man showed a lack of respect to Alberta and isn’t being smart if he wants to build a relationship with Alberta. Nixon believes there’s no reason the Teck Frontier oilsands mine shouldn’t go ahead. Teck has followed every rule, done everything right. So why is this a do-or-die, line-in-the-sand project? “If the federal government is willing to stop this project, that means they’re stopping every project,” says Nixon. As for Trudeau’s game. “The federal government is looking for an excuse. That’s all they’re doing. They’re trying to find an excuse to not let a project go through that was already approved. It’s ridiculous,” he says, adding this is another example of the federal government not playing fair. “They’re trying to change the rules of the game.” Trudeau said he wants to work with Alberta. Nixon says this is the prime minister’s chance to get to work. “It’s time for Justin Trudeau to put his money where his mouth is.” Speak the word, Nixon. Speak the word. “Albertans are looking to see if the prime minister is serious. And something like Teck can show he is serious about trying to work with us,” says Nixon. “If not, he’s going to prove what we all suspect. That he doesn’t care about this province and he’s going to continue to work against us.” You’ve got to hand it to Trudeau. Just one day after Premier Kenney pleads to the Trudeau government for a thumbs-up to the oilsands mine and after weeks of the Alberta government playing nice to the feds, the Liberals just can’t just shut up and decide. Instead, they kick us where it hurts. To add insult to injury, it also happens to be the same day a new Angus Reid nosecount shows opposition to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion growing. In Quebec, sucking up the oil money while looking down their noses at us, the opposition is more than half of those polled. It’s also up in vote-rich Ontario and vote-rich B.C. Guess Kenney’s high-priced energy war room better find their mojo and crank up the heat on the naysayers and the usual axe grinders. Speaking of Kenney, the premier has made it known he’s not happy the Teck mine isn’t already approved, considering how many hoops it has jumped through and how many years it has been jumping. On Monday, talking to the Calgary press he didn’t sound like he had the wind in his sails, didn’t look like the person who just placed a bet on the horse thought to be the clear favourite. Now we know why. https://calgarysun.com/opinion/columnists/bell-trudeau-arm-twists-alberta-play-ball-or-no-oilsands-mine @Jimmy McGill before you tell me you don't like Jason Nixons tone you should know he is crazy popular in Alberta.
  22. Is that you? Especially when so many of them are living in poverty. Which imo needs to be eliminated in this country. Yes a far right conservative said no kid should live in poverty No he supports a growing the economy in a safe and responsible manner. I can respect your wanting complete over sight but you anger me when you attack Alberta. I enjoy debate with you, I feel some days this rig pig can keep up with the lawyer that gets to ski on work days but let's no longer attack something if we don't like it lets debate it.
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