Chretien begins forming his fascist dictatorship

[Asher]

On a side note, when was the last time the NDP had a successful government in any region?

[Hobbes]

I'm a fan of the NDP's support of social programs. The CA is a bit too much to the right for my taste. Stockwell put off them all together.

[Asher]

Stockwell's history.

The problem with the NDP is they support social programs, but they haven't a clue how to implement them. Which is why every NDP government in recent memory has more or less been a total failure.

It's kinda like communism to the effect of "it's nice in theory" but not possible to do in practice. Which is why provinces like Ontario and Alberta leapfrog over the provinces with NDP governments.

[Hobbes]

On a side note, when was the last time the NDP had a successful government in any region?

It's all subjective. I was happier under the NDP, than with these bloody Liberals.

[Asher]

Nobody is truly happy under the liberals.

They're not right wing, they're not left wing, they're just...beurocrats.

[Hobbes]

Asher, not once has a government really worked in British Columbia. It's too diverse.

[Asher]

Diversity isn't the issue. Incase you haven't noticed, Alberta is really diverse also.

The only difference is the people who immigrate here tend to know a bit about how economics work, considering they decided to move here for the job market mostly anyway.

Since the immigrants in Alberta tend to know at least the basics of economics, they also tend to know that the NDP's policies trash the local economy, regardless of how diverse the region is.

[Hobbes]

Diversity is the issue. Special interest groups: Tree huggers, loggers, rednecks, Asians, East Indians, Natives, Hippies, etc. Com'on, Albertans are sheep. :P

[Asher]

Nonsense.

I'll repeat again: I, as a white male, was a minority in my high school.

We don't have loggers, but we've got oil rig workers. Other than that it's very similar.

You do have a higher concentration of hippies, as evidenced by voting in an NDP government in the first place.

The diversity in BC is only responsible in their indecision in selecting a government. They tend to select the same types of government in a cyclical fashion, and are somehow surprised every time that they don't work.

[Hobbes]

Yeah, we switch between left and right every four years, it's maddness. That's why we have no stability. You guys always a similar government in power, plus an industry that is great demand. People go to Alberta to make a buck, people go to B.C. to live.

[Asher]

When was the last time BC had a right wing government?

The liberals are NOT right wing. Maybe relative to the NDP only...

[Hobbes]

Social Credit. Oh, and yes this Liberals are more to the right of centre than the Liberals in Ottawa.

[Asher]

If you want a real right wing government, take Klein.

The BC Liberals are, at best, slightly right of center.

Even the Alberta Liberals are right of center. They're still commie bastards though.

[Hobbes]

Well, I may have to take back my 'BC Liberals being righter than the federal Liberals' statement after was Fuhrer Chretien did to poor Paul Martin.

[Tingkai]

You're wrong Asher.

Equalization payments are a transfer of federal money to the provinces. Provincial governments do not contribute money to the payments.

From the CBC
"Equalization payments are money [the federal government gives to poorer provinces to help narrow the gap between the "have" and "have-not" provinces."

From Department of Finance Canada
Equalization payments "allows all provinces, regardless of their ability to raise revenue, to provide roughly comparable levels of services at roughly comparable levels of taxation."

The $8,500 for Alberta refers to the revenue the Albertan government could collect if it used all of its revenue generating
capabilities, in order words, its "fiscal capacity."

"The fiscal capacity of a province is a measure of its ability to raise revenues from more than 30 revenue sources." -- From Department of Finance Canada

Yes, Alberta's fiscal capacity includes oil revenues. That is the only reason why its fiscal capacity is so high. But oil revenues do not fund the equalization payments.

Since we're dealing with federal money, income taxes provide a good picture of the contribution residents of each province make to the equalization payments. We could also look at profit tax, but that would be skewed in favour of Ontario since most Canadian corporations are based in Ontario, even if they do business throughout the country.

Originally posted by Asher
The Canadian government's website clearly disagrees with you.

Good luck finding a quote that says I'm wrong.

Originally posted by Asher
Your figures don't even add up to the total transfer payments paid...

That's because you incorrectly believe that only Alberta and Ontario contribute to the payments. In fact, the payments come from all Canadian taxpayers. For example, money from taxpayers in Newfoundland goes to the federal government which then transfers a portion to the Nfld provincial government.

Originally posted by Asher
I do mind sharing. Why should Alberta pay for Newfoundland's eqaulization for 52 years in a row? It's not a temporary measure, it's a constant money hole. Why did we even let Newfoundland in the country, anyway?

Again, you don't understand the point of the equalization payments. Think of it as two parts of a city, one rich and one poor. The city collects money from all of its taxpayers and then spends it equally throughout all of the city.

"Transfers help ensure that all Canadians receive reasonably comparable levels of public services, wherever they live. They support important provincial programs – such as health care, post-secondary education, social assistance, social services and early childhood development. " -- Department of Finance Canada

There are problems with the current equalization payments system, but I think a starting point is for you to understand how the system works.