If Premier Jason Kenney remains convinced that a referendum — or at least the threat of one — is the way to send Ottawa a message, he may have inadvertently stumbled across a much better idea than the one he’s been touring.
In the aftermath of the federal election, Kenney has repeated his threat of holding a referendum on the federal equalization program. Doing so, however, would likely be completely pointless.
Even if Ottawa didn’t ignore our demand to negotiate, there’s nothing compelling them to actually agree to anything. More importantly, though, there is no change to equalization that would have any impact on Alberta’s bottom line. Even if we could somehow convince Ottawa to change or overhaul equalization, our “contribution” (that is the federal taxes collected in Alberta versus the federal dollars spent here) would remain the same. It’s a dead end.
Kenney, though, has also vowed to create a panel to look at how we might “secure our role and fairness in the Canadian federation.” It is down this path where a better referendum idea is to be found.
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See Also:
(1) ‘There’s a lot of fear’ — more choppy waters face oilpatch
(2) CNRL suggests easing curtailment on conventional oil to boost drilling
(3) Bill 207 challenges abortion access based on ‘conscience’
(4) As we head to rock-bottom, hope is not a strategy
(5) Tax revenues stuck between a rock and a hard place
