Promoting false narrative on equalization is unethical

By Letter to the Editor on October 29, 2021.

Editor:
A vote against equalization is a vote against quality free public education in Canada, the best determinant of upward mobility.
Provincial equalization payments help ensure per student education funding is similar across the country. In 1974 revenues for school taxes were brought into the complicated equalization formula. In 1982, Canada amended the constitution to entrench equalization and ensure all Canadians have reasonably comparable public services.
Though Canada ranks among top OECD countries for education systems, socioeconomic disparity limits outcomes. It is hard to learn if you are hungry. Though equitable school funding isn’t the only service equalization payments provide, it is the most important.
I was disappointed the Oct. 7 and Oct. 20 Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) Lethbridge Herald columns did not explain the equalization formula. After all, this non-profit charitable organization has a $5 million plus budget to employ qualified people.
Both columns spout the same rhetoric against the present federal government and complaints about Alberta not getting its fair share, you hear in any coffee shop talk by folks not understanding equalization. This also begs the question of who funds the CTF and the benefits funders reap to promote financial disparity in Canada.
If the CTF really wants to reduce taxes, shouldn’t the CTF redirect donations to projects to reduce provincial costs?
I was disappointed also in Lethbridge East MLA, Nathan Neudorf’s, Oct. 8 column which said “equalization process has been pulling billions of dollars out of our province …and funneling that money into provinces…”.
No, Nathan, all people submit federal taxes and, a portion of the total, based on previous fiscal periods, is transferred via equalization payments. Why does the UCP government not properly educate the public before posing a referendum, instead promoting disinformation and fomenting dissent?
Fact 1 is Albertans pay the lowest tax in Canada. Fact 2 is Albertans have the highest average income in Canada. Fact 3 is our federal government receives more revenue from B.C., Ont. and PQ than Alberta by virtue of higher populations. Promoting a false narrative by focusing on per capita revenue from Alberta is unethical.
A province that funds a $30 million War Room against a mythical enemy, squanders $1.6 billion on a pipeline to nowhere, cuts corporate tax revenue, and cancels Alberta’s carbon tax program that would provide renewable energy investment, should perhaps look inward before demanding more money to waste.
Barb Goertzen
Coaldale