dino_bobba_renno dino_bobba_renno:
Oh please, tell me your not really going to make me look this up. If you honestly believe Alberta doesn't contribute more to equalization than it gets back then I suggest you do some reading on your own.
I was hoping you'd at least try. If you did, you'd quickly find out that there are no such things as transfer payments from the provinces to the federal government. There are only federal taxes paid by people and companies in those provinces, and transfer payments to the provinces from the feds out of that tax revenue.
The idea that Alberta sends more to Ottawa than it gets back comes from the fact that Albertan people and companies pay more in federal taxes than Alberta receives in transfer payments. This I do not argue. I simply point out that the Government of Alberta is not burdened by payments to Ottawa that they don't make.
$1:
I don't think low taxes are the problem, the fact that spending has balloned over the last few years is and the lack of accountability on the provincal government's part is.
Spending has ballooned over the last few years because it was almost nonexistent in the years before, and now we're playing catch-up.