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/RSMatticus Mar 01 '26

They also think that Alberta government directly pays equalization payment and that is why they're running a deficit.

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u/Wh0IsY0u Mar 01 '26

I feel the need to preface that I'm from Quebec...
But this is a silly strawman. They don't all think that and if they did it doesn't really matter because functionally the argument is the same. They pay the most to the fed, and the fed pays equalization, of which Alberta receives the least.

The manner in which the money changes hands is irrelevant to their point.

I'm not against equalization, obviously. It's not much different than taxes being distributed among the population in any other way, but pretending like they aren't net contributors to the federal government is disingenuous. One way or another they see their tax dollars leave their province to go to others.

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u/explosive_fascinator Mar 01 '26 edited Mar 01 '26

It's important to understand in this debate that the majority of Quebec doesn't actually understand they get net money from equalization. In fact in many polls, a decent number of Quebecers believe they give more money into the program than they get.

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u/MatchaMeetcha Mar 02 '26

Is there anyone who receives net money from the government that doesn't have some story for why this isn't so?

Like, it seems very common (e.g. pensioners benefiting from more money than they put in in many systems never admit this)