MLA’s flawed argument made before by some on Alberta’s political right

By Letter to the Editor on September 13, 2019.

Re: “MLA Report: Alberta deserves a fair deal,” Aug. 30

Brooks-Medicine Hat MLA Michaela Glasgo tells us that “Through federal taxation, Albertans have contributed over $620 billion to the federation since 1957.”

I will accept that number as accurate, even though Glasgo does not tell us its source. I do submit, however, that the figure of $620 billion tells the reader nothing beyond one fact, standing alone as she presents it. She uses that figure in an information vacuum. What is the context? What are the comparable figures for each province? What are the per capita contributions? Why since 1957 and not some other year? Her claim is that Alberta has not been treated fairly, but the one figure she uses does not and can not support either that argument or any argument.

In appraising Glasgo’s argument one must remember that it is not the Province of Alberta nor the Government of Alberta which has paid the $620 billion tax in the last 62 years. That tax has been paid by Canadian taxpayers who have lived in Alberta. If those taxpayers had lived in other provinces and had earned the same income, they would have paid the same federal tax. Glasgo equates Alberta (the province) with Albertans (the people who live in this province). She decries what she sees as “…Canada’s flawed equalization formula…”, and she claims that ” … Alberta deserves better.” To state the obvious, the two are not the same thing. People (taxpayers) are not the province (which pays no tax to Ottawa). Moreover, her argument is based on the false assumption that all people in Alberta dislike federal equalization payments.

What Glasgo is really saying is that she and others of her political ilk pay federal taxes, therefore they should get what they want, and, because they do not get what they want it is unfair to the Province of Alberta. How does it follow that because one pays taxes one always gets one’s way? How does it follow that because some taxpayers are unhappy with an aspect of federal government spending, it is therefore a disadvantage to the province those taxpayers live in? If Glasgo could make federal equalization payments cease with a snap of her fingers would federal tax rates diminish? That is not likely. Would things then be instantly “fair” to Alberta? In my opinion Glasgo’s argument boils down to “I have money thus I pay tax, so why can’t I get what I want.” Her flawed argument has been made before by some people in Alberta on the political right. Their use of that argument shows a large and deeply-seated sense of entitlement because they seem unable to distinguish from among themselves, their political party, the Government of Alberta, and the Province of Alberta. They seem to believe that each of those four are and ought to be all of the four, hence the sense of entitlement.

In closing I will briefly note two things. Firstly, in the Great Depression of the 1930s, Alberta and the other prairie provinces had agriculture-based economies which were devastated. Half a century before equalization payments, Ottawa (the rest of Canada) provided assistance. Secondly, the federal equalization payments which Glasgo and her ilk love to hate were agreed to by Alberta and by other provinces in the amendments to the Constitution in 1982.

Gregory R. Côté

Irvine, Alta.

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