OP-ED -- Conservative leaders acting like spoiled children

FAREED KHAN
Updated: November 12, 2019

https://edmontonjournal.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-conservative-leaders-acting-like-spoiled-children 

In the almost three weeks since Liberal MPs were shut out of Alberta and Saskatchewan on election night, Conservative politicians in those provinces haven’t stopped complaining long enough to realize that they are behaving like a spoiled child that didn’t get its way.

So here is a message to Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, and federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer on behalf of the millions of Canadians who did not vote Conservative across the country — stop lying to Canadians and pouring gasoline on the embers of western alienation.

The fact is voters in the rest of Canada who didn’t vote Conservative are feeling alienated by your determination to return to Stephen Harper-era policies — policies that were soundly rejected by more than 60 per cent of Canadians in the 2015 election, and more than 63 per cent of Canadians in this recent election.

The fact that not a single Liberal MP was elected in either province is the fault of no one but the voters and Conservative politicians in those provinces who demonized the Liberals. If they had wanted a voice in the government they should have hedged their bets and re-elected the few Liberal MPs who were running.

As for the demands being made by Conservative politicians and voters, Canadians living outside Alberta and Saskatchewan who did not vote Conservative have some demands as well.

The first is for Conservative politicians to stop lying about what equalization actually is. Equalization payments are not some sort of cheque that provincial governments give to the federal government, which is then redistributed to other provinces. Equalization dollars come from federal tax revenues which are set aside to help “have-not” provinces provide the same level of services as richer provinces provide. If the equalization program were cancelled, Alberta and Saskatchewan would not see a single cent returned to their coffers.

The equalization formula that Premiers Kenney and Moe say is so unfair was designed in 2009 by the Harper government while Kenney was a minister in the most pro-oil federal cabinet in Canadian history, with pro-oil premiers in Alberta and Saskatchewan. If it’s unfair, it’s because the Harper Conservatives, with the help of Kenney, made it that way.

Alberta and Saskatchewan also need to acknowledge that they benefit by being part of Canada. Federal tax breaks for the oil and gas sector in Canada top $3.3 billion annually, with the vast majority of that going to companies in Alberta. Throw in other corporate tax breaks, federal health and social transfers (which amount to $7.8 billion), funds paid directly to residents of Alberta and Saskatchewan through the child benefit, EI payments, CPP payments, and other programs, and you have many billions in federal dollars going to the two provinces.

Also, stop demonizing Canadians who did not vote Conservative. In a democracy there will be winners and losers. You did not see Liberals and New Democrats in Ontario and Quebec threatening to separate when Harper was winning, a time when the two provinces were losing hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs due to a high Canadian dollar caused by oil prices of more than $100 per barrel.

To Alberta politicians, if you instituted sensible tax revenue policies, rather than wanting to keep taxes the lowest in the country, then you would not be running deficits. So institute a sales tax, raise provincial and corporate income taxes, and increase oil and gas royalties to reflect the real value of your resources. It is clear that Alberta has a revenue problem and a deficit of its own making.

Finally, respect the decisions of the courts in your legal challenges to federal carbon pricing. Continuing to fight, despite repeated defeats, is a misappropriation of funds for strictly partisan reasons. The fact that conservative icon Preston Manning and some oil company CEOs support carbon pricing as a sensible market solution to addressing climate change, says that you are absolutely wrong on this issue.

Mr. Kenney, Mr. Moe, your recent behaviour shows a lack of leadership, and is endangering national unity. So begin acting like real leaders for all your citizens and not just those who voted Conservative. 

Fareed Khan is a government relations and communications consultant living in Gatineau. Quebec. 

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