| Highlighting Alberta’s Contributions to Canada, and Urgent Need for Reform EDMONTON, AB, May 25, 2020 – Today, Fairness Alberta launched a billboard and online campaign to make Canadians aware that Albertans have contributed more than $324 billion to the rest of Canada since 2000, playing a very large role in funding the social, educational, health, and infrastructure programs that make Canada one of the most livable countries on earth. Despite the massive job losses and ongoing devastation in Alberta’s energy-fueled economy since 2015, the steady outflow of dollars has continued: Albertans contributed an average of $18.2 billion more per year to Ottawa than they received from 2015-2018. For a family of four, that works out to nearly $18,000 per year during the downturn. The 20-year cumulative total is a $318,000 contribution per Alberta family, and a $42,000 benefit for families across Canada. Fairness Alberta, a newly formed grassroots, non-partisan, and non-separatist association of concerned citizens, aims to increase awareness across the country related to Albertans’ major contributions to Canada, while also providing clear, factual information on the federal policies that undermine Alberta’s prosperity. “Fairness Alberta was created by people who passionately believe that we can improve Alberta’s – and Canada’s – future by highlighting the tremendous contributions Alberta has made to Canada’s prosperity, and educating in a nonpartisan and factual way about various fiscal, trade, procurement, energy, infrastructure and other economic policies that adversely impact Canada, and particularly Alberta.” said Dr. Bill Bewick, Executive Director of Fairness Alberta. To promote better dialogue, Fairness Alberta has provided informative but accessible analysis of a number of key topics on its website www.fairnessalberta.ca, as well as the Alberta Transfer Meter (ATM), which tracks the cumulative outflow of funds from Albertans to the federal government since 2000. Although the ATM has been paused as of December 31, 2019 at $324 billion given the tremendous uncertainty right now, the total is based on Statistics Canada data and serves as the highlight of the initial campaign. “When Alberta was doing well, it was easy to ignore some of the structural and policy issues within the federation that impede Alberta’s prosperity, but the current combination of weak oil and gas markets and Covid-19 have created an economic crisis,” added Dr. Bewick. “Fairness Alberta’s objective is to provide the facts needed for the kind of informed, productive debate that can lead to essential reforms, because at this critical time we need every province in Canada firing on all cylinders – especially Alberta.” For more information on Fairness Alberta, its mandate and future plans, please visit our website at www.fairnessalberta.ca. Here is the billboard that will be going up in Ottawa today.  For further information or to arrange interviews, please contact: Bill Bewick, Ph.D. Executive Director Fairness Alberta Cell: (780) 996-6019 Email: [email protected] |
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