Project Alberta

http://www.edmontonsun.com/money/column ... 43981.html

The Ed Sun has it right on many points but misses a couple all together.

The government report being referred to was not one report. Each party on the committee wrote their own. There was no agreement at almost any level.

The best idea came from the Government themselves, expanding the CPP/QPP model, the worst from the NDP.

The NDP wanted to double the CPP contributions and force more Canadians, particularly more Western Canadians to throw good money after bad into this federal program. Why is that such a bad idea?

Because you will get nothing or only a tiny fraction of your contributions and their compound interest back forcing you to pay even more into the program means you have even less money for retirement. That is the exact opposite of the stated objective (better retirement plans).

The problem with the CPP and most federal programs is that the East disproportionately benefits. This is by design. Almost all Federal programs are designed to transfer money from Canada's colonies back to Canada. The CPP (and EI) are no different though they are extreme examples.

Think about doubling your contributions, already hundreds of dollars a month and then think of your CPP pension cheque that is promised. That cheque will be completely taxed back unless you are destitute or have arranged your finances to make it appear so. So where will those hundreds of thousands of dollars build up over your 30yrs (or maybe 40yrs) go? Yep that money goes East, hence the great support for such programs by the majority of Canadians, particularly in Que/Ont.

The best solution is to have all social programs done locally, as local as possible. The many Nations, and provinces in Canada need to set up their own programs and retirement programs should be self funded.

This means we can allow anyone into such programs even new immigrants as the pay out they get will be directly related to the money they have put in. It is the only fair way to set up such programs, if a Nation decides they want to go that way, there are other options.

Personally I think that retirement programs are old school, industrial revolution age. Alberta and most Nations in Canada are wealthy enough to have Guaranteed Income plans to ensure people always have the basics covered.

Alberta deserves its own pension plan, on that we agree. Yet nearly everything else I will have to disagree with you on. You see I don't think that CPP was designed to screw westerners, I think it was made for Canadian citizens. Meanwhile the "Guaranteed Income" design is far too nanny state for me, but then again the entire planet has had taken a hard left turn on social policies and I can see this one coming next. This was all about a "Just Society" at one time you know folks, and in that society envisioned all citizens were to have entitlements to cradle to grave benefits of citizenship. All well and good I suppose if the average citizen actually participated in the political process and achieved such things in a more democratic manner but sadly this is not the case.

I guess my counterpoint would be that from my perspective or opinion if you will, there needs to be different levels of citizenship. Those that want to sit around and do nothing would be level one. The vast majority of citizens would be a level two citizen, the average working Albertan. There needs to be higher levels of citizenship as well. Those levels would be reserved for people working in the interests of other citizens, and a level above that for citizens who put their lives at risk for their fellow citizens. We need to recreate respect in this society. This is something we need to do quickly in order to protect ourselves. We need to change and we need to do it now. We have become a tax and spend society. One in which credit and debt control the very foundations of our culture.

I say government has become large enough, and we have as many damned federal programs as we need. Perhaps too many is more accurate. We need to find a way to reduce spending and reform the system. That is all the citizens really want when you boil it all down. We want the government to do more with less by doing things smarter. Don't take anything away just yet, and who knows maybe some things could be added. Don't just blindly cut taxes or services without doing what really needs to be done first which is of course, streamlining the system. Make it more efficient, that is the challenge to any who should seek to govern. That is what we should be demanding any potential candidate swear to work toward PRIOR to being considered as a viable potential representative of the people. In my view political reforms must predate democratic reforms, because nothing will change quickly under the present way of doing things. That is step one. To be clear...that means choosing the right representative at the next opportunity. It means that those who represent us should be made accountable to us at the constituency level. Start at the bottom of the political food chain if you really want to make changes!

This is where the Wildrose folks are needed to come in the door. They need to make politics appealing to the masses. They need a simple message to deliver to Albertans. The need for change is upon us. The old ways are just that, old. We need something new and different, we are a dynamic people in this province and we want to stay that way. All the talk of the environment and finances, political wranglings and the like detract from the basic desire of the Alberta citizens to simply have more freedom from the clutches of government. We want the government to know what NO means. We want to know our tax dollars are being spend in a more efficient manner, and that we are seeing true value for our tax dollars.

In short, its all about the money our tax dollars. Its our money that fuels the political system and we actually get to control how we spend our money. We can control the system and we can do so in every little community in this province where folks can gather and make decisions in their own best interests. Democracy can work if we simply participate in the process, size does matter in every sense of the imagination of the political process. Numbers alone dictate events, not partisan policies, just the numbers votes for or against thats all. Cleaning up our political act is as simple as getting out and voting, that is all.

I’m all for cancelling programs like CPP but I will need my money back, with interest as would millions of others who were given no choice but to forsake significant private saving to fund such government programs. Cheaper to supply the service promised, too dangerous to just say it has been stolen.

I suspect that you (most of us in Alberta and the West) see big government as part of the problem because we are on the paying end. Canada (particularly when it comes to federal expenditures) is not the West. Canada was/is Ont and Que, the rest of us have either joined them (the Eastern Provinces and BC) or have been created or taken as colonies (the territories, AB, SK and MB) or developed within the system set up by Canada (various Nations).

Once people see that they will see that CPP and most Federal programs are indeed designed to transfer money from the regions to Canada. Even if one chooses not to believe that they have been deliberately designed to do so one has to accept the fact that it has ended up transferring money from the regions to Canada. The only real grey area would be intent and that should be clear by the continuing bias seen in these programs.

In the case of CPP it should be clear that having a “pension” program that takes (takes by force) money based on income (the more you make the more you pay) and yet pays out based on “need” is going to be discriminatory. This is made even clearer when qualifying for CPP payments has restrictions based on current income.

In Canada this means that people in Alberta (we have higher income) will pay in more than those in most other provinces, particularly Eastern provinces and receive less (higher income again) than those in other provinces and that is by design.

I can show this bias in most Federal programs (Quebec gets 50% of the dairy quota, the East is not subjected to the Wheat board, has different EI rules and so on) but you show it best in your own views which are a result of this built in tribute to the mother country.

Most “Canadians” do not support smaller government as you (we) do. Why do we think smaller is better? Because for every dollar we send to Ottawa we get only a small fraction in return. If you lived in a Province in which you got more than a dollar in services in return for a dollar of federal taxes you would likely hold a different view.

That point is important as it explains much about Canada and federal, even provincial taxes and services. If you are one of the few 140,000 people on PEI getting a half billion dollar bridge (and keeping ferry service to boot) you do not think your tax dollars are being wasted? Not likely. You see a return on tax dollars that suggest higher taxes are the key to prosperity and for those Canadians it is.

On the other hand if you are one of the 700,000+ on Vancouver Island, in a province which even at the start of the 21st century has yet to see the twining of the TransCanada Hwy (the others include Manitoba and Saskatchewan), you are justified in wondering if your Federal tax dollars are better kept at home.

If you are in Alberta you should have no doubt that a smaller government is best as the Federal systems take much more from each Albertan than it returns in services and funding, the highest disparity in the country. Alberta is also not the chosen home of most Federal government offices and is being frozen out of power positions by the French cultural and language requirements for most key positions. Most notably of late are the positions on the Supreme Court which will now (unless the bill is stopped in the Senate) be reserved for people from one province or culture (not yours).

It is clear that having our concerns, hopes and aspirations being “interpreted” or administered by people from a different culture is going to be, shall we say, less than optimally efficient from our point of view, particularly if one likes the ideas of democracy.

As for democracy, it has only ever worked on the small scale. That is the only way to address the concerns about the tyranny of the majority and powerful. Alberta’s role in the federal systems shows that. It does not matter what Alberta votes on the Federal stage we will always be overruled by Eastern majority interests. A majority who are far away, from a different culture, with different ethics and a different history.

On the local level the Wildrose party may be the answer but so could any other party that follows and expands on the path that Quebec has shown. That is a path that has each Nation ripen and accepting the responsibilities of Nationhood.

In the case of Alberta that starts with being unapologetically pro-Alberta position even if it means being “Anti-Canadian”. After all a Canada that does not have room for a great Alberta, a great Quebec and a great multitude of Nations is not a great Canada, is not worthy of our membership.