It Takes Guts To Raise Taxes: A Canadian Parody In 3 Acts

Sometimes your best friends feel the need for an intervention. Here’s Daniel Hannan of the (UK) Telegraph "I spent a week in Canada watching the election, & came back stunned by the lopsidedness of the [media] culture. It’s not just that a Right-wing leader who'd blacked up would've been hounded out...It’s that the Leftism of the media has fashioned a national ethos.”

Indeed. The rapidity with which the legacy media abandoned Trudeau’s blackface episode in favour of hounding Andrew Scheer about the non-issue of abortion was breathtaking. (Perhaps only the American Left’s incurious stance on Elizabeth Warren’s Cherokee fantasy compares.)

For those not marinated in the GroupThink of the Laurentian toffs, the selective scrutiny might even border on parody. Witness CBC’s headline as it gamely tries to avoid crediting Donald Trump with the killing of vermin Abu Baker Al-Baghdadi. “Beware of ISIS retaliation in wake of leader's death, experts say”. 

You see? Trump just upset a stable situation. If only Trump conceded this demon a few innocent ritual murders and rapes, it would’ve been okay. Orange Man Bad.

But for outright parody few things beat the Globe & Mail’s attempt to lance Alberta’s inflamed feelings since Trudeau’s latest electoral victory. In a piece by their Alberta columnist Gary Mason (with whom I’ve collaborated in the past), the Mop &Pail assures its anxious eastern readers that Alberta has brought their fiscal crisis on itself.

Mason primes the pump: “Of the many tactics that Jason Kenney used to win the leadership of the United Conservative Party, perhaps the most effective was the anger he stoked among his base over Alberta's perceived lot in life.” This sounds like the Monty Python Spanish Inquisition sketch. 

“Kenny’s chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... His two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency.... His *three* weapons are fear, and surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an almost fanatical devotion to the Premier.... His *four*...no... *Amongst* our weapons.... Amongst our weaponry...are such elements as fear, surprise.... I'll come in again.”

But let’s go on.

Mason describes the cash crunch brought on by falling oil revenues and outlines the choices available for Alberta to get out of its mess. His conclusion? If only Alberta taxed its citizens more none of this would be an issue. Why can’t they be like the cool kids and institute a PST?

“But that is considered heresy in Alberta,” he writes. “So instead, politicians and others here moan and whine about how horrible things are, how awful the province is being treated by Ottawa and other jurisdictions, all of which is only adding to the province's woes. It's a joke.”

Jokes? I don’t suppose you could find a more parodic Canadian solution than adding taxes. Mason— who lives in a province with a 12 percent HST and $1.60/ litre oil— seems to believe that the clever solution is to hit up the private sector and citizens for the money to balance the budget. His province having succumbed to the greedy paw of government in their business, Mason says, “Jump in, the red ink is fine.”

Here’s the kicker. He thinks that adding taxes is a brave thing to do. “That would take guts. It's much easier to complain about how mean everyone is being to them instead. Soon, however, that ploy will only engender deep, wide-scale resentment, and Alberta could feel more alone than ever.”  You just can’t write a better sendup of the national SJW mindset.

He is right one thing. Adding taxes is heresy in Alberta. However, the columnist entrusted to explain Alberta to the G&M’s readers sees this as a character fault. Mason implies that the taxpayers of Alberta should welcome the intrusion of more government grabs. How can he thoughtfully report on Alberta and not understand that fiscal restraint is seen as a positive?

Mason also trots out the “why doesn’t Alberta diversify its economy?” critique so beloved of scolds. A few points here that Mason neglects to mention in his prescription for fiscal health. 

While its betters chide Alberta for its dependence on the energy industry they neglect to mention that, even under Barack Obama, the U.S. has made a killing in the energy business just as Canadians turned up their noses at it. World demand continues to surge, and, with billions coming into the modern world, oil and natural gas are the cheapest ways to help the global citizens the Left claims to care for.

There are hundreds of billions to be made from this in coming decades. Mason? Meh. Alberta is supposed to kick this habit like a smoking addiction. This downturn is almost all self-imposed by the “national ethos” Kennard described his bulletin to Britain. Mason and friends think Canada should ignore this opportunity because… Greta something?

Further, the G&M Alberta expert neglects to mention that if Alberta’s energy product could get to tidewater and other markets it might enjoy world prices instead of the discounts now suffered by going via the U.S. That lost revenue alone would balance Alberta’s budget. While adding tens of billions to the Canadian economy each year. But with Encana leaving Calgary hopes for a comeback took a major hit.

Who stands in the way? Alberta’s Canadian partners in B.C.’s lower mainland and the Ontario/ Quebec corridor. Why? Humina-humina-humina climate apocalypse. Even as they pour raw sewage into the Strait of Jun de Fuca and the St. Lawrence River. Albertans don’t boycott Ontario vehicles or PEI lobster or Quebec maple syrup from making its way across provincial borders. Why should oil be treated differently?

Finally, Alberta would have no trouble balancing budgets if it were allowed to retain more of the money their labours earns. An estimated $611 B after taxes have flown from Alberta to the equalization fund since its inception. Currently the province sends about $20 B annually to folks who think it’s a joke that you don’t add taxes instead if making your business profitable.

Lest you think Mason is an outlier, here’s another eastern voice playing the Kenny Complaint card. Dan Leger in Chronicle Herald thinks Kenney’s anti-Ottawa rhetoric is pure partisan politics.

And they wonder why Alberta doesn’t believe these people have its best interests. Go figure.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the publisher of his website (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com). He’s also a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he is also a best-selling author whose new book Cap In Hand: How Salary Caps Are Killing Pro Sports And Why The Free Market Could Save Them is now available on brucedowbigginbooks.ca.