Theme: Subsidy

by Seonaidh MacGobhain

In 14 Years (2000-2014) Alberta sent $200 Billion to the Federal Government.

In 57 years (1957 to 2014) Alberta only got$92 million

back. And the rest of Canada has the nerve to badmouth Alberta. Now what’s wrong with that picture?

(NOTE – THAT IS BILLION VS MILLION ABOVE!!!!!!)

• As part of a four month investigation, the Financial Post has identified as many as 35 Canadian projects, worth $129 Billion, that have been stalled or cancelled because of opposition due to environmental, aboriginal and or community groups. If these projects went ahead they would create hundreds of thousands of manufacturing and construction jobs while being built and tens of thousands of full time operational jobs when the projects were commissioned.

• A recently released third quarter (2016) National Accounts Report shows that all sectors of the Canadian economy are now net borrowers.

Net borrowing for Corporations reached an annual rate of $19.7 Billion.

Households totaled $30.5 Billion ; and

The total of all governments 2016 annual deficits total $37.6 Billion.

• Total accumulated debt by theFederal Government currently stands at $634.4 Billion.

Total Federal and all Provincial Debt stands at $1,294.7 Trillion (Note that Municipal debt is not included in the $1.294 Trillion debt).

• Included in the above totals, accumulated debt in Ontario stands at $313.9 Billion. Quebec is $180.1 Billion. Ontario has the highest per capita debt of all provinces at $22,449.00. We used to believe that Quebec did not have their finances under control. Their per capita debt is less than Ontario’s.

• Manitoba’s total provincial debt is $22.6 Billion. This does not include the $17 Billion debt owed by Manitoba Hydro which is backed by the Manitoba Government. If Manitoba Hydro’s debt was included in the provincial debt, Manitoban’s would have the highest per capita debt.

• Net Federal debt is expected to increase $107 Billion in the next 4 years. Total Federal Government interest costs since 1990 equal $950 Billion.

The Federal debt increases at a rate of: $ 87 Million per day or $ 60,460.00per minute or $ 1,008.00per second.

• Business Investment in Canada has fallen for an eighth straight quarter. Even with the favourable Canadian exchange rate, exports are below their level of a year earlier. The manufacturing sector , particularly in Ontario is struggling with energy cost differentials, rising non-tariff barriers, uncertainty about the status of trade agreements and complex approval processes. Policy makers are just starting to realize that government stimulus spending is not working and more of the same won’t help.

• Voters in our last federal election, who embraced the tax the rich message by the current federal government, should know that of the $126 Billion in federal tax collected, $26.2 Billion was collected from 1.4% of the high income earners.Even if the tax for this group doubles it will not pay for next year’s federal deficit forecast at $27.8 Billion.

• Top marginal tax rates for Canadian provinces is as follows:

Nova Scotia- 54%,

Ontario- 53.5%,

QuebecandNew Brunswick- 53.3 %,

P.E.I.- 51.37%,

Manitoba- 50.4%,

Newfoundland- 49.8%,

British Columbia- 47.7% ,

Alberta and Saskatchewan- 48% (note that in 2014 Alberta’s was 39%).

Of course these rates do not include GST, PST, Carbon Taxes or Property Taxes.

• The Equalization Programstarted in Canada in1957. The following are theLifetime Paymentsto each province:

Quebec = $198 Billion(50.5%),

Manitoba = $46 Billion(11.7%),

Nova Scotia = $44 Billion(11.1%),

New Brunswick = $43 Billion(10.9%),

Newfoundland & Labrador = $25 Billion(6.4%),

Ontario = $17 Billion(4.2%),

P.E.I. = $ 9 Billion(2.4%),

Saskatchewan = $8 Billion(2.1%),

British Columbia = $3 Billion(0.6%),

Alberta = $ 92 *Million*(0.0%).* This is not a typing error!*

• Canadian Oil Sands Producers export 3.4 million barrels of oil per day to the USA. The USA is their only customer and the USA discounts this oil by $15.40 (US$) per barrel based on the differential between the West Texas Intermediate benchmark price and Western Canada Select price. The total annual discount is $18.6 Billion (US$) lost to the Canadian economy with the benefit going to the USA. This discount may go as high as $20.00 per barrel but would disappear if either the Energy East Pipeline or Northern Gateway pipeline were built and Canadian oil was transported to tidewater. No wonder Donald Trump wants to approve the Keystone pipeline on his first day in office. And Ontario and Quebec import their oil from Venezuela and Saudi Arabia and of course pay full price.

• Between the years 2000 to 2014Alberta’s individual and corporate taxpayers sent $200 Billion to the Federal Government on a“net basis“.Net basis meaning:what money left that province, less what the Fed`s reinvested in that province.For several years the annual contribution was as much as $20 Billion.No other province, including Ontario with 3 times the population, even comes close to matching this province`s contribution. Remarkably few Canadians seem to be aware of this, even in the vaguest sense!

• Our Federal Government is in the process of conducting an Inquiry Into Murdered And Missing Indigenous Women. Saskatchewan’s Premier Brad Wall recently noted that there have been 29 studies and reports on aboriginal issues since 1996, which have produced hundreds of recommendations. The 1996 Royal Commission On Aboriginal Peoples alone cost $50 Million and presented 444 recommendations, almost all of which were ignored by the Chretien Liberal Government. Maybe we should have an National Inquiry to look into why all these earlier inquiries and studies failed.

• Some RCMP facts : 6,420 missing persons in Canada – 1,455 are women – 164 are aboriginal. Between 1980 and 2012 there were 20,313 murders in Canada – 6,551 were women and of those 1,017 were aboriginal women. 88% of the aboriginal women murders have been solved – 89% of non-aboriginal women have been solved. 83% of aboriginal women were killed by a husband, family member or acquaintance and 71% of those murderers already had a record, 53% of those had been convicted of a violent crime before and 62% had a history of violence with the specific murder victim herself.

• 90% of all Canadian Public Sector workers have employer provided pension plans compared to 24% in the private sector. Moreover 94% of these public sector pensions are “defined benefit” meaning retirees get a set amount after they leave their jobs (typically 70 to 75% of their working salary) whether or not there is enough money in the pension fund. Any shortfall is made up by the taxpayers for years and years after these civil servants retire. Many of them collect pensions longer than they worked.

• It used to be that public servants made less money than their private sector counterparts. Not anymore. According to a recently released study by the Fraser Institute public servants now earn on average 11% moresalary than their counterparts in the private sector. Compared to the private sector, civil servants enjoy longer vacations, take more non vacation days off ( 13 days vs 8) , retire on average 2.3 years earlier, enjoy superior pension benefits and more job security. According to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business when all compensationis taken into account and divided by the hours worked , federal government workers made 40% morethan their private sector counterparts , provincial government workers made 35% more and municipal government workers made nearly 30% more. There are 3.7 million public sector workers in Canada. The only way to get this under control is to privatize more services.

• Global Oil Consumption over the past few years is as follows:

2011= 88.6 Million Barrels Per Day(MBD),

2012= 89.8 MBD,

2013= 90.7 MBD,

2014= 92.6 MBD,

2015= 94 MBD,

2016= 95.4 MBD and

2017= expected to be 97 Million Barrels Per Day.

As much as the Environmental Activists pontificate that the world is transitioning off fossil fuels this upward trend in oil consumption will continue for years to come. Despite the many governments (in Europe, Canada and the USA) spending hundreds of billions of dollars on green energy initiatives over the past 10 years, sufficient technology does not exist and is still not even close to providing the energy to meet the industrialized world’s needs.