https://business.financialpost.com/
Alberta is Canada’s breadwinner, but is treated like a stepchild
Alberta must adopt Quebec’s playbook and become a “nation” within a nation or threaten to leave. The ballot box does not work and Alberta is Canada’s breadwinner, but is treated like a stepchild.
Step one is for Alberta to demand the immediate construction of the TMX pipeline and the scrapping of Bills C-48 and C-69. No delays.
Then Alberta should stage a referendum before Christmas 2019 on opting out of, or revamping, Canada’s unjust equalization system. (Since 2010, Ottawa has taken an average of over $20 billion a year out of Alberta; Quebec receives $13 billion, or two-thirds of every dollar in the federal equalization program.) It’s a bribe to Quebec with Alberta money which is why Justin Trudeau recently extended the system to 2024 — an extension which should be nullified.
Some say such a referendum won’t force renegotiation, but it cannot be ignored either. Referenda have provided Quebec with leverage. Then Alberta must take steps toward autonomy: Withdraw from the Canada Pension Plan, subsidized heavily by the province due to its high incomes and youthful demographics. Quebec did this in 1966.
If Alberta withdrew, its workers and employers would pay half the CPP premiums they now pay and the rest of Canada would have to pay at least 10 per cent more. Alberta would then get tens of billions from its share of the $440-billion CPP fund to invest in new projects.
For the rest of this article: https://business.financialpost.com/diane-francis/diane-francis-alberta-needs-a-new-deal-fast-or-separation-is-inevitable