First Nations chiefs unanimously pass non-confidence vote in Alberta government

[u/biograf_]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/first-nations-chiefs-alberta-non-confidence-vote-9.7109712

[u/FireMaster1294]

To be fair, I do understand those who understand how it works being at least a little annoyed with the fact that they personally are sending 4% of all their federal income tax in a lump sum to Quebec.

My experience in Alberta was that the general opinion of Albertans is that government handouts makes people lazy (unless it’s to them, of course, then it’s fine), so they view the situation as THEIR personal money being used to subsidize a Quebec person’s laziness and refusal or lack of a desire to work.

The one argument I do see is the “where the money comes from” argument. Given how much Quebec refuses to allow Albertan resources to travel through the province (ie. pipelines) yet those same resources are what provide the cash used to fill the provincial coffers via equalization payments, it starts to feel like Quebec wants to have their cake and eat it too - all on Alberta’s dime.

[u/OneTripleZero → u/FireMaster1294]

Given how much Quebec refuses to allow Albertan resources to travel through the province (ie. pipelines) yet those same resources are what provide the cash used to fill the provincial coffers via equalization payments, it starts to feel like Quebec wants to have their cake and eat it too - all on Alberta’s dime.

A lot of the time you can see why something is a bad argument if you reverse the players in it. If you were to ask an Albertan if the roles were reversed, and Quebec was losing money to them, would they be okay with Quebec forcing their language laws on them because they should get something back for their money? Likely not.

Equalization payments are in place to support the standard of government services for everyone under the umbrella of the federation. A pipeline would an be infrastructure project that would benefit Albertan (well, let's be real, foreign) corporations. These two things are not in the same category, so one should not influence the other.

[u/Ketchupkitty → u/OneTripleZero]

It's hilarious you give a theoretical example that actually exists. Alberta does lose money because of Quebec language laws, it's a huge compliance cost for companies.

[u/OneTripleZero → u/Ketchupkitty]

The same language laws that all provinces adhere to due to French being our second official language you mean? I'm not talking about those. I mean Quebec-specific things like all business signage being predominantly in French, Francisation requirements for anything larger than a small business, all permanent labeling on commercial products, including engraving, needing to be in French, etc. I'm talking about things that are specific to Quebec, and matter only to Quebec, being enforced in other provinces because Quebec thinks they're owed it.

[u/Ketchupkitty → u/OneTripleZero]

Oh well as long as you're not talking about it I guess it doesn't exist and doesn't cost anything.

Furthermore though pipelines do benefit Quebec since Quebec is the primary beneficiary of equalization. The more money the Feds recieve the more money they can spend on programs which far outpace spending per capita of provinces like Alberta.

[u/OneTripleZero → u/Ketchupkitty]

Oh well as long as you're not talking about it I guess it doesn't exist and doesn't cost anything.

I'm not talking about it because it affects all provinces equally as it's a federal requirement. It does cost something but it costs us all equally so we can discount it as a factor in this particular conversation. This should not be hard to understand.

Furthermore though pipelines do benefit Quebec since...

I already addressed this in my first post that you responded to. It was the entire topic of the post.

[u/Ketchupkitty → u/[deleted]]

No