Ottawa is not trying to steal all of Albertans’ money
By Lethbridge Herald on July 19, 2024.
Editor:
While those of us conservatives from the world of finance continue to watch Albertans be cheated out of their oil and corporate tax wealth by these phony conservatives, Reformers, we watch Alaska and Norway continue to reap the benefits of their oil wealth by building up their Alaska Permanent Fund and Norge Bank Investment Management Fund.
Over the past five years the Alaska government has paid every man, woman, and child $8,308 in total annual oil dividend cheques, and $50,000 each since 1982. Where are Albertans? The truth is they allowed these Reformers to use it to try to buy votes from the rich.
While Ottawa pours billions of dollars into this province, as these articles prove, Albertans are fed the lie that Ottawa is stealing all our money and Smith finds it smart to try to steal our Canda Pension Plan, kickout our RCMP at a huge cost to taxpayers, destroy our federal dental plan. While doctors continue to leave putting lives at risk, roads filled with potholes continue to destroy our vehicles. A massive shortage of schools is created yet they brag about a $4 billion surplus that would have been at least three times that if Lougheed’s oil royalty structures had not been destroyed.
All in all, there is no question our children’s future has been destroyed with a $260 billion and growing, orphan oil well cleanup mess dumped in their laps and a “horrific financial mess” as Lougheed called it to get this province back to what it was like under Lougheed.
As a former bank manager I don’t think this mess can be fixed, it’s too massive. Albertans have only themselves to blame for allowing it to happen.
I would suggest that before you believe anymore of these Reform Party lies you had better Google these facts:
“Alberta received more funds from feds than it has from revenue in decades” – $30 billion more.
“Albertans got more federal COVID support per capita than people in any other province”.
Does that sound to you like Ottawa is stealing all our money?
So why are Albertans believing it?
Alan K. Spiller
Edmonton
14-13
Yawn.
Perhaps adding something useful rather than a pathetic attempt at a cynical rebuttal. Not a chance of course considering the source.
It’s a never ending story with Allen. And then Fed up throwing insults. It’s always the same culprits, it’s always the same groups. Yawn yawn yawn. Boring diatribes.
“Intelligent” reply. Nothing new here. As if to say you are not from one of the same “groups” of continuing naysayers.
Are they insults or are they true facts at a fool who is so dumb he can’t understand them?
The name Fedup Conservative was created by a lawyer friend who suggested I make certain people realized what strong conservatives our family members were with Lougheed’s energy minister Bill Dickie being a brother in-law of one of my uncles and dad having donated around $30,000. to the Alberta Conservative Party over the years. We spend countless hours volunteering for Lougheed and Getty governments and a brother in-law voluntarily flew the government plane for them in his spare time, and every lawyer, accountant, economist, banker, oilmen and former Social Credit and Conservative MLAs we have know agrees with us these Reformers have destroyed Albertans future and it’s impossible to hide the truth but these fools keep trying.
I didn’t spend 32 years with the Royal Bank to become an ignorant 81 year old senior dumb enough to believe the lies these Reformers are feeding us and none of my senior friends did either, and I bet you didn’t either?
Boy have you got that right. I was asked to be leader of the Alberta Alliance Party in the 2004 election by a group of lawyers, and turned it down. My wife was retiring in 2006 and we planned to do a lot of travelling and we have. They later changed the name to the Wildrose Party in 2008 and these damn Reformers got control of it and the rest is history. After being defeated when she crossed the floor to join Jim Prentice another well known Reformer , Danielle Smith tried to become the Conservative representative in her own riding of High River and was defeated. The people knew there was nothing conservative about her. Why aren’t these ignorant Albertans smart enough to understand that?
Once again you make truth of the saying “All mouth and no Brains “. Thanks it gives the true conservatives a good laugh. So ignorant you help these Reformers steal our oil and corporate tax wealth that is legally owned by you as Lougheed stated and you aren’t smart enough to understand it, why aren’t you?
….and, again, to mention that how Norway’s sovereign fund, which is now worth more than $1 trillion, was made this way: Norway did not do royalties. What they did was charge a fair tax on oil and gas profits which did two things: allowed every citizen, the owners of the resource, to profit, and keep their oil and gas industry thriving. Smart….money, always, talks.
Norway now funds education, health care, infrastructure, etc. for the good of all, the owners of the resource. And us, Albertans, the owners of our oil and gas resource, have been sorely shortchanged. And, to offset criticism of Norway’s high taxes, Norwegians are very happy about the ‘bang for their buck,’ in exquisite public services, for the benefit of all, not just a few capitalist friends. And, there is still, the ability for individual wealth in Norway. It’s such a shame now, our oil and gas wealth has been frittered with wrong-minded management. And Alberta folks voted for this? It’s a reminder of not being kissed while being _ _ _ _ _ _.
The tax Norway charges on oil production is 78% and no one whines about it or threatens to leave like they did when Ed Stelmach was considering to increase our Royalties back to a more realistic level. Instead he lowered them and made a worse mess. When I was in Norway they told me they also have a 40% sales tax on items that are considered toys, such as ski boats and snowmobiles and if they are needed in their work it is waved. Not only do Norwegians not pay anything for Education or Healthcare, including prescriptions, university students pay no tuition fees and are in fact paid $1,000. per month to attend university. Children from the age of 7 to the age of 18 are given free lessons each summer to learn how to sail a sail boat.
if ottawa gets to steal all our money, then there is less for the usual cronies to steal away from albertans under so-called cons govt watch. that is just bad business for the pocket lining policies of alberta cons govts.
Ottawa isn’t stealing a penny it’s all these Reformers fault and as the conservative MLAs stated make certain you read this article it’s true . Lougheed certainly knew it and the MLAs did also.
“ Royalties Down 32% Billions in Federal Revenue Lost”. It was no secret that Harper being another Reformer let them get away with doing it.
i get it – just trying to say alberta cons will always end up moving money from the public purse into hands of the well placed.
here is another biff to neg – the above was hardly a serious entry.
yeesh, by the above i refer to my initial comment…meant to be ironic, but i guessed i presented it poorly. i agree with the letter.
No you didn’t I was certain that I knew what you meant. I know you aren’t ignorant enough to believe the lies these Reformers are spreading.
As one of our friends said at coffee. “ Who in their right mind, especially seniors, would be so stupid that they would let these Reformers, pretending they are Conservatives, help the rich steal their money that legally belongs to them and ignore what Alaska and Norway have accomplished with their oil wealth. You would think they would be smarter, but they aren’t. How many senior couples in Alberta could have used an extra $100,000. in their retirement like Alaskans got?” Great question a lot I bet. He’s 92 years old and not as stupid as these ignorant ones. He was an employee of the Alberta Government who lost his job when Klein began his rain of terror on them, in fact three of them were. Not only did it force them into early retirement it had a huge effect on their pension payments as you can well. Imagine.
these reformers that call themselves cons are indeed ripping us off big time. as you note, klein sold us out, and left us with an eco mess, as reformer govt after reformer govt left us to clean up after they bled us out. keep on telling it like it is, fedup.
It makes my blood boil when I see what’s happened to Jasper after all the time I have spent there over the years, when I think about all the ignorant seniors who have told me Global Warming is a hoax and it was created by liars to make money. That’s how stupid they were and still are.
When I lived in Lethbridge in the 1960s our biggest fear was a fire fanned by wind in a coulee bring the fire into the city and something like this happening to Lethbridge like Jasper.
My father in-law was born and raised in Lethbridge and he agreed with me it was a concern.
It should still be a concern. We are expecting winds in Edmonton tonight of 90 km and anything could happen. We had a little rain today but not very much.
the basis of our issues has to do with several things, of course, but it is amazing how even otherwise rational people are unwilling to give up hardly anything in the way of wants. just perpetuate the issues.
please god, or whatever ucp leader we have as proxy, just let me be able to have far, far more money and stuff than i need, no matter my footprint, no matter the needs of any lazy commie socialists. will you do that for me? if so, i promise to heap a great big pile and footprint in your honour. amen
With our family being heavily involved with the Peter Lougheed government we knew what his intentions were. Build up a huge nest egg for Albertans in the Heritage Trust Fund and start paying out annual oil dividend cheques just like Alaska is doing and ignorant Albertans let these Reformers destroy it for them while hurling their stupid comments at anyone not as stupid as them just like Buckwheat does.
My 32 years with the Royal Bank tells me it can’t be fixed they have created such a massive disaster for our children’s future and as oilmen point out the orphan oil well cleanup mess is getting worse as the oil industry closes more and more wells. Why wouldn’t it? The Town of Calmar can’t expand their boundaries because they have 27 of these wells surrounding them and they have to be fixed at a huge cost they can’t afford.
Who is mainly to blame from what my fellow senior friends and I have seen? It’s easy to fool seniors believing every lie they have been fed and advising their children and grandchildren to follow their lead. I have had some really disgusted children and grandchildren tell me that it was a huge mistake following how their grandparents were voting and they won’t do it again. They know what these Reformers have done to us and they are still doing it.
It’s no surprise that the NDP was able to sell so many membership to young Albertans when Nenshi joined them they know this insanity has got to be stopped, don’t you?