[The petition is at the bottom of this page]
A Fair Deal For Alberta: You can help
Premier Kenney’s Fair Deal Panel was to release its recommendations to the Government of Alberta on March 30, 2020. However, with COVID-19 consuming the governments’ energies, the release of the committee’s report has been delayed at least until April 15th.
Although getting a Fair Deal for Albertans may have been pushed to the back burner, the necessity to get a Fair Deal becomes more urgent by the day.
Our group certainly is not privy to what the committee might recommend; however, we had representatives attend the majority of the public hearings, and we all heard what attendees had to say. We are certainly able to share our suggestions as to what both the committee should recommend and what the government should do.
There is a multitude of ways of measuring a Fair Deal. However, for this letter, we will discuss a Fair Deal for Alberta in simply economic terms.
FIRST: Let’s discuss why we know Alberta needs a ‘Fair NEW Deal.’ We certainly welcome constructive input into our numbers which we have gleaned from public records to the best of our volunteers’ ability. Here is our ‘back-of- the- envelop’ analysis of Alberta’s financial relationship with Canada. Albertans contribute to Ottawa in various forms, approximately $50 Billion per year. It is generally agreed that Alberta has sent more than $600 Billion NET to Ottawa over the past thirty years. That is at least $20 Billion per year. So $50 Billion sent to Ottawa, of which $20 Billion does not return to Alberta. That means $30 Billion spent by Ottawa on our behalf. There is $9 Billion in direct transfers to our province, which our provincial government spends, and $21 Billion is spent by Ottawa for ‘our benefit.’
SECOND: The main point of the ‘Firewall Letter’ is to have taxes paid by Albertans collected in Alberta, and have services for Albertans delivered by Albertans! If Alberta was to implement every aspect of the Firewall Letter, Alberta would have an extra $41 Billion with which to provide services to Albertans. Clearly, under this scenario, Albertans would also be responsible for their share of costs accrued outside our borders for our benefit.
As I mentioned at the beginning of my letter, our group followed the public proceedings of the Fair Deal Panel, and we believe it is fair to say that approximately thirty-five percent of the folks who presented wanted Alberta to seek outright Independence. Another fifty percent said that they wanted Alberta to take more control of our affairs by implementing the Firewall Letter at the province’s earliest convenience. That is 85% of attendees that wanted Alberta to take more control of our affairs. A very small percentage said that they were happy with the status quo. In Lloydminster, the meeting that I attended, one out of twenty speakers said that they were happy with the status quo. My understanding is that the sentiment was much the same at the majority of the meetings. Nevertheless, it is clear that some are happy with the status quo. Both the committee and the government will face intense, well-financed, and well-coordinated opposition to implementing all or a portion of the Firewall initiatives from both inside and outside of Alberta.
Those who feel strongly that a Fair Deal can only be achieved by implementing the Firewall initiatives must make their wishes known to our elected representatives. To that end, we have enclosed the following petition which we are asking everyone to sign and return to us. We will forward the petition to our government to show the depth of the support in Alberta for taking control of our own destiny. Implementing the measures outlined in the attached petition would keep more of Albertan’s wealth in Alberta while transferring thousands of jobs from Ottawa to Alberta.
PLEASE read, consider signing, and then circulating the following petition. It will encourage our Alberta government to ensure a Fair Deal for ALL Albertans!
Petition Details:
A Petition to the Legislature and Municipal Governments of Alberta for Full Autonomy.
Whereas:
Alberta is to collect all taxes levied within the boundaries of Alberta.
Alberta is to have control over immigration.
Alberta is to have its own police force.
Alberta is to have pension arrangements directed by Albertans.
Alberta is to have an unemployment fund.
Alberta is to have control over natural resources.
Alberta is to have trade corridors to the oceans.
Alberta is to have firearms licence holders elect their Chief Firearms Officer.
Alberta is to have Senators elected by Albertans in a general election.
Alberta is to have a Supreme Court justice, Court of Appeal and Queen’s Bench selected by Albertans.
Therefore, we, citizens and residents of Alberta, call upon the Legislative Assemblies of Alberta to implement the above policies for Full Autonomy.
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