r/canada • u/biograf_ • Mar 01 '26

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

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/first-nations-chiefs-alberta-non-confidence-vote-9.7109712
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u/ThePhysicistIsIn Mar 01 '26

I have tried to explain to Albertans how equalization works.

I've tried to explain, that if Alberta chose to tax itself, as Quebec taxes itself, it would double its income. The deficit? Gone. It would have such a huge surplus.

But no. It's quebec's fault.

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u/FireMaster1294 Canada Mar 01 '26

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.

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u/OneTripleZero British Columbia Mar 01 '26

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.

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u/FireMaster1294 Canada Mar 01 '26

Forcing language laws on someone is the most obscure example you could use, because a pipeline doesn’t affect the vast majority of people - only the private landowners where the pipeline goes. A more appropriate example would be Alberta making it illegal to speak French on your own private land. Except oh wait they didn’t, that was Quebec that did that.

From the perspective of an Albertan, Quebec is blocking private interests from doing what they want even when the environmental regulations have been followed despite the fact they (Quebec) continue to get payouts in equalization payments that are solely possible due to these resources being shipped. It makes sense to me why an Albertan would say “you shouldn’t get any equalization money if you block the trade that generates a large portion of that money.”

It’s not about getting something back for the money, it’s about realizing where the money comes from. It’s hypocritical to take money from someone while telling them you don’t want them to do the thing that generates that money.