32 Comments
User's avatar
Ken Boessenkool's avatar

The Firewall Letter contained ideas that Alberta could do unilaterally.

Danielle Smith’s Alberta Accord contains ideas only the federal government can do.

If Smith wants a mandate to do those things, she should step down as Premier and run to be Prime Minister.

Expand full comment
Jared Wesley's avatar

I couldn't agree more, Ken.

Expand full comment
Cherie Myles's avatar

The address reeked of separation, all the while DS saying ‘not me’…

Expand full comment
IM Citizen's avatar

🤣

Expand full comment
Cheryl Croucher's avatar

She wouldn’t get very far. Lol. Bring back the days of tar and feathers and running the rascals out of town, in Smiths case, run her out of the country

Expand full comment
Mike J Danysh's avatar

If Smith wants to do the stuff in her list of demands, she should move to America and run for state governor.

Expand full comment
Melanie Anderson's avatar

This posturing is a diversionary tactic to take away the attention on her many alleged corruption charges. She’s grandstanding and demanding things that are not going to happen and frankly I don’t trust that her motives or intentions are for the benefit of Albertans or Canadians. I want her to show some dignity.

Expand full comment
Jim Williamson's avatar

Alberta’s complaints about unfair fiscal treatment from Ottawa are not just misleading — they are largely self-inflicted.

Yes, Alberta has the highest fiscal capacity in the country. That’s not due to superior governance or hard work, but because of its immense natural resource wealth. What’s often left out of the grievance narrative is that Alberta deliberately chooses not to use that capacity. It maintains the lowest overall tax burden in Canada: no sales tax, below-average personal and corporate income tax rates, and historically low royalty rates on oil and gas.

In short, Alberta voluntarily restricts its own revenue and then complains that Ottawa doesn’t send enough money back. That’s not fiscal injustice — that’s a political choice.

Equalization and federal transfers exist to ensure that all provinces can provide reasonably comparable public services at comparable tax rates. Alberta doesn’t receive equalization not because it’s being punished, but because its revenue-generating potential far exceeds the national average. If it feels squeezed, it’s because it refuses to implement the kinds of revenue tools that every other large province uses.

If Alberta wants to improve its fiscal position, it has clear options:

• Introduce a modest sales tax, like every other province.

• Reform outdated royalty frameworks that leave public money on the table.

• Invest in long-term economic diversification rather than relying on volatile resource revenues.

The real problem isn’t Ottawa — it’s that Alberta wants to live like a low-tax, low-regulation jurisdiction while demanding high-service levels and a better deal from the rest of the country.

Expand full comment
IM Citizen's avatar

Edited: Ontario has the highest contribution to gdp but still eligible for equalisation payments THOUGH is not getting them currently. And I've never heard them scritch about it. ALL provs are theoretically eligible.

Expand full comment
John Strychun's avatar

Actually, Ontario has the biggest economic contribution to Canada’s GDP based on its population and not to transfer payments. It still receives equalization payments (however the lowest per capita) so that’s why you don’t hear scritch about it.

Expand full comment
IM Citizen's avatar

If highest gdp why need transfer payments?

Expand full comment
John Strychun's avatar

Exactly

Expand full comment
Terry's avatar

Great comment!

Expand full comment
Mike J Danysh's avatar

True, Jim. And this is why the rest of Canada sees us as the whiney rich kid of Confederation.

Expand full comment
Sheila K🇨🇦's avatar

Well said!! 👏🏻 very informative comment.

Expand full comment
John Strychun's avatar

I don’t know if you live in Alberta or not but do you hear yourself. Yes Alberta does have the lowest tax burden which is enjoyed by all in the Province. Tax is a revenue stream from the taxpayer of which you might be one and we all are. Other than a Socialist no one wants an increase in taxes no matter from where (personal, corporate, and sales tax). Just because other Provinces have them doesn’t mean Alberta does or should. A Sales Tax is a consumer tax which would stress affordability more than it is already. Equalization does benefit other have not Provinces but that said they all (especially Quebec) just take, take, take, and never have Alberta’s back on any issues. Central and Eastern Canada could care less about the west and more so Alberta and somewhat Saskatchewan unless they come out here looking for work.

Expand full comment
Maureen's avatar

Whine, whine, whine.

Meanwhile, the 118,000 Alberta millionaires and 5 Alberta billionaires pay almost nothing in taxes while our health care collapses for lack of funding.

BTW: I live in Alberta--in southern Alberta whose economy is suppressed (we are perfectly situated for, for example, solar and wind energy) because we're not the be-all oil patch which pays the lowest royalties in the world.

Expand full comment
IM Citizen's avatar

Well said Maureen. Thanks to Smith's effed up renewables stallicy.

Expand full comment
Jim Williamson's avatar

Premier Smith has demanded, among other impossible things, equality in federal transfers, even though Alberta does not meet the criteria for Equalization. Under the current formula, to receive the same Equalization payments as Quebec—whose fiscal capacity is ~$10,000–10,500 per capita—Alberta would need a deep and sustained economic contraction, including:

• A collapse in oil and gas royalties

• A steep decline in corporate profits

• Mass losses of high-income employment

So clearly we don’t want to meet that criteria.

Smith’s claim that Ottawa is “decimating” our economy is not just wrong—it’s a dangerous distraction. As the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) points out, the real economic decimation is being felt by working Albertans, not because of federal policy, but because of Alberta government choices.

According to the AFL:

“Wages in Alberta grew by just 0.7% while inflation rose by 7.4%… Workers are suffering under a cost of living crisis, one that prevents them from accessing essential goods, like groceries.”

This isn’t Ottawa’s doing—it’s provincial wage suppression, a refusal to invest in public services, and a policy of austerity for workers and windfalls for corporations.

Alberta doesn’t need more transfers. We need to use the fiscal capacity we already have. Other provinces with lower incomes and less resource wealth are not experiencing the same affordability crisis. Why? Because they use stable tax systems—like sales taxes—to fund reliable public services.

A modest Alberta sales tax, paired with targeted rebates, would:

• Fund health care, housing, and childcare

• Reduce pressure on household budgets

• Stabilize revenue and reduce dependence on oil booms

It wouldn’t make Alberta eligible for Equalization—because we’re still a rich province. But it would make life better for working people. That’s what real justice would look like. Go to https://faircheckout.ca/ for a chance to win free groceries.

Expand full comment
IM Citizen's avatar

Oh here we go "poor" Alberta. No one is taking from individuals, it's from aggregate wealth that no one actually owns but the corporations.

Expand full comment
Ross and Janet Lennox's avatar

I am hopeful that a national electricity grid gets the highest priority as it is critical to all provinces. The UCP government has neglected its most important function - proper taxation and consistent revenue to plan and implement long range projects. They never seem to understand how equalization works - the amount of disinformation is a critical problem and is an impediment to tackling the big problems in the Confederation model

Expand full comment
Dolores Todd's avatar

I do not trust this woman one bit! She’s all about grandstanding which for me it’s her way of distracting from the damage she’s already done. She’s disrespectful and certainly not looking for unity within the country, which what we really need right now!

Expand full comment
Tim Belec's avatar

Well said Mr. Wesley. That press conference made me angry, for all the reasons you said. Smith’s inconsistency on consultation combined with the legislation passed that brings more control to her and her caucus over municipalities, arms length agencies etc show she is not serious about sharing power with anyone but her inner circle and her sky box buddies while they dismantle public assets and shift our wealth to private interests. The hipocracy is staggering

Expand full comment
IM Citizen's avatar

I'm sorry but this is just more blowfart bafflegab from the queen of blowfart bafflegab running from corruption and chaos headlong into more of the same.

Where's the recall, resign or seat ejection button? Or even better. Off with her head as they screeched in the days of Marie Antoinette, her historical doppelganger.

What a f ng clown. MORE WASTED WORDS AND TAX DOLLARS.

Expand full comment
Doug Smith's avatar

Thanks Jared, illuminating perspective!

Expand full comment
Maureen's avatar

"Her proposals, as currently articulated, face significant constitutional and political hurdles that, if not overcome, could end up inflaming frustrations among her base rather than resolving them."

That's exactly what she wants: to inflame their frustrations so they'll support her whatever she does despite the CorruptCare scandal, to support her disingenuously phrased call for separation from Canada.

Expand full comment
Heather Ramsay's avatar

I say no to all.

Expand full comment
Greg Spaetgens's avatar

Greetings, Professor, I appreciate your work. One aspect of this address that angered me is the timing of it. It seems to me that she has tried to torpedo Mr. Carney's meeting with Trump beforehand. Could she not have waited 24 or 48 hours? And, she signed off in code, "strong and free", part of the Reform Party platform and Preston Manning's "Canada Strong and Free Network". The whole thing felt quite sleazy to me.

Expand full comment
Carrick Wood's avatar

That would be Danielle: premier sleaze at work for… herself.

Expand full comment
Michael Portelance's avatar

Thank you for this. I am trying to understand the issues and the source of such rancor from large segments of AB. This helps.

Expand full comment
Mark L's avatar

Really good writing.

There is one thing that we can both agree on, trying to overlap or delve into federal jurisdictions is not a great idea. Unless of course one would be planning to create a constitutional crisis that might be a great way to go about it.

Also speaking as a resident of Quebec I am pining for a cutback on equalization payments. Preferably to Zero. I would like to see the current Quebec government the CAQ and all subsequent governments be mandated to balance the budget. I will take that a step further, every provincial government must be mandated to balance their respective budgets.

NOT BY CUTTING MEDICARE. As many provinces are prone to do. Part of the issues we are having with medicare are the provincial cutbacks to " balance the budget". Fix your budgets, and you fix medicare.

Expand full comment