OTTAWA, ON, September 28, 2020 – Fairness Alberta today launched an Ottawa billboard matching the one in downtown Toronto showing that Canada needs Alberta’s economy productive again to recover from this Covid-induced financial crisis. The billboard and online campaign illustrates how much Albertans have helped Ontarians carry the fiscal load in the federation: Ontario can’t do it alone.
“Canada needs to unshackle every province’s economy to get out of this jobs and fiscal crisis, but Alberta’s potential in particular is held back by existing federal barriers as well as uncertainty over barriers to come,” said Fairness Alberta Executive Director Dr. Bill Bewick. “This billboard shows how much Albertans have helped Ontarians cover a big federal tab for the have-not provinces – without Alberta’s contributions, a massive imbalance will persist long after Covid.”
Fairness Alberta, a newly formed grassroots, non-partisan, and non-separatist association of concerned citizens, aims to increase awareness across the country of Albertans’ major contributions to Canada, while also providing clear, factual information on the federal policies like the looming Green Plan programs that are anticipated to further undermine Alberta’s prosperity.
“There’s a tremendous amount at stake as we navigate our way through the current crisis, including how we pay it all off,” said Dr. Bewick. “We want Canadians across the country thinking a little more about how critical Alberta’s productivity has been to jobs and federal budgets – Canada needs Alberta’s economy”.
Fairness Alberta launched the same billboard on Yonge and Richmond in downtown Toronto September 21st. We also garnered coverage for our recommendations for reforms to Equalization and the Fiscal Stabilization program, with an overview of fiscal federalism available as well at fairnessalberta.ca.
Our previous releases, media coverage, and presentation to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance can be found in the NEWS section of our website. For more information on Fairness Alberta, its mandate, and future plans, please visit our website at www.fairnessalberta.ca.
For further information or to arrange interviews, please contact:
Bill Bewick, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Fairness Alberta
Cell: (780) 996-6019
Email: [email protected]
Background information
Billboard Calculations: StatsCan Table: 36-10-0450-01 (formerly CANSIM 384-0047) shows that from 2007-2018 Albertans paid $240 billion more in federal taxes than the federal government spent back in Alberta. For Ontario the net contribution (positive balance) was $98 billion. The rest of Canada (including a $55 billion net contribution from BC) had a net negative balance of $378 billion from 2007-2017.
The Library of Parliament provides the following snapshot from 2017:
https://lop.parl.ca/staticfiles/PublicWebsite/Home/ResearchPublications/InBriefs/PDF/2017-01-e.pdf
