Has Danielle Smith ever had an original thought or is she just pulling everything she says out of the MAGA playbook?
Reopen the government Get back to work and we can negotiate to protect healthcare for millions of Americans you concerns. - - MAGA Mike Johnston Danielle Smith
IMPLEMENT A SALES TAX.
A sales tax is a regressive tax. None of us should have sales taxes to begin with. Instead, they should cancel subsidies to oil&gas companies and start taxing them appropriately for the climate killing criminal enterprises that they are.
Do you know how those “subsidies” actually work. They dont GIVE money to oil and gas companies, they give them breaks on their own taxes and royalties. There is no big pot of money that is scooped out to give to O and G that could be given to teachers instead. In return the O and G not only keeps Alberta’s economy afloat, it also is a major source of money for the rest of Canada’s budget. It also provides a huge number of AB’s population with very good paying jobs which means those people are all paying significant income tax which IS what pays the teacher’s salaries.
Even easier then. Get them to pay their fair share.
The rest of your post I chalk up to oil&gas propaganda. Alberta’s economy would not need Oil and Gas to stay afloat if they hadn’t been institutionally captured by these climate killing ghouls and had diversified their economy. Like honestly, this is just Big Tobacco but worse, because they are not polluting just lungs, but the entire planetary biosphere, and you’re going to seriously make that argument? They are evil psychopaths, just like Big Tobacco, profiting off of the death and misery of others.
And there is no reason whatsoever that it should be so. Alberta has a fantastic geography for renewables. What Quebec is for hydroelectricity they could be for wind and solar. But instead they keep licking psycho boot. Fuck that. Pay your god damn teachers.
Well, those “ghouls” (seriously?) not only keep AB afloat, they make enough money so that we dont have to pay sales tax, which is a huge benefit to all Albertans. You only have to travel to other provinces to realize there is a MASSIVE difference to your wallet when you’re only paying 5% GST instead of an additional 7 to 10% PST on top. That literally makes my life better every single day.
Secondly, those “ghouls” (eye roll) also provide a LOT of very well paying jobs in AB which is why we are a have province instead of a have not province with the highest per capita incomes (over $96,400) in Canada. I dont work in O and G directly but my son in laws do, and the people who use my services do, so O and G very directly enhances the lives of my family. Solar/wind/other powers are nice but they dont provide great incomes.
Thirdly I absolutely reject the whole ‘climate killing’ virtual signalling of those who decry O and G because I know that Canada only emits 1.5% of the worlds GHG’s and the hypocrites who point a finger at O and G would not consider actually taking action against the 98.5% emitters, specifically China and the US. Have you stopped buying goods from China? Have you stopped traveling to the US or buying any goods from the US til they clean up their act? If you have, great, but 99% of Canadians haven’t and they dont actually give a crap, they just like to point fingers at O and G and yell about the ‘climate’.
Its far easier to point the finger at the thimble of pollution coming from Canada than it is to actually do something concrete about the shiploads and truckloads of pollution coming from the places where you cause it by buying all their goods. Take the plank out of your own eye and I’ll take your argument seriously.
Canada emits way more per capita than China. And China is a world leader in electrification and renewables. Again, things that we should be doing instead of glazing oil and gas. Roll your eyes all you want, but Canada’s 1.5% of global emissions, when we are 0.5% of the global population is an atrocious climate crime.
Your precious incomes will soon be worth squat by the way, the way the climate crisis is unfolding. How many times does your house have to burn or flood before you realize that? My own insurance premiums have gone up because of shit like this and my municipality here in Montreal has to completely rethink storm drainage with sponge parks everywhere. Who pays for that I wander? Look beyond your nose… Climate crisis resilience is something we all pay for. Plank in my eye, get off your high horse and face the music, buddy. The petro-state lifestyle is almost over.
And like I said, against regressive sales taxes. I want to tax capital gains, corporate profits.
It’s also ridiculous how you keep touting your life being better because of your wallet. I guess education for the next generation isn’t among the things that matter for a good life over there. I guess I’m too Greek sometimes and too stuck up on ideals of education. Who needs ευ ζειν when your taxes are low. Somebody tell Aristotle’s ghost the barbarians have other ideas.
Yes, we barbarians in the west hate education. Thats why I have 7 years of post secondary with two degrees and my daughter is not only a Ph.D but an MD. Her husband is an MD. And my son is a school principal with his Masters. We’re all just dumbies over here in lala petroland.
Since WHEN does the climate care about PER CAPITA emissions? Emissions are a GLOBAL problem which means the climate does not look at every person’s output, it only matters what the TOTAL emissions are. And even if we totally shut down the oil patch it wouldn’t make more than 0.5% difference. Thats a margin of error considering this is all based on computer modelling and the data inputs are what makes the most difference.
Lovely that China is actually trying to change its horrid practices. They are still 30% of the worlds problem. From ONE country.
The petrostate is here for another 50 years til there are better affordable, reliable alternatives. Get used to it. (The first time I heard oil and gas was in decline was in 1970. Yep. Still waiting 55 years later)
Pay your teachers.
I’m on board with that too honestly.