“How much is your sales tax?” the middle-aged man at the fast food counter asked the girl at the till.
She didn’t know but a bystander chipped in: “six per cent,” then asked the man where he was from.
“Alberta.”
“I figured. You don’t have a sales tax there.”
“We don’t. If we did it would solve a lot of problems,” he said.
“It’s all a matter of pride. Montana doesn’t have a sales tax. Alberta doesn’t have a sales tax. Alberta has no sales tax but it has deficits.”
“I totally agree,” said the Albertan.
There is no intent by the new Alberta premier Jason Kenney to remedy the lack of a sales tax. His policy is pinned on the hopes of a better oil price and more royalties flowing into the government treasury.
The pride in not having a sales tax may determine his policy. Any government that introduces a sales tax in Alberta seeks massive protests and retribution.
Instead of tackling budget issues like the sales tax, Kenney has chosen to fight with Ottawa, and more specifically with Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
That fight plays well with angry voters back home, voters blaming Trudeau for everything from lack of a pipeline to low oil prices. Trudeau is still trying to deal with the fallout from former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s law that watered down environmental approval processes.
Ironically, while the three Western premiers challenge legality of carbon tax in the constitution, they somehow expect the federal government to ignore the court order and speed up the process of consultation with Indigenous people.
This kind of attack politics shows disrespect for the law and childish response to national issues. We need pipelines desperately but they need to be built using the right process and respecting law.
In his angry attacks, attacks with the intent of toppling Trudeau, Kenney raises the promise of separatism if he doesn’t get his way. The threat of separatism plays well down on the farms in Alberta and stokes the fire of the few who really believe in separation, but does nothing to improve relations in the family of provinces that is Canada.
Kenney is still playing federal politics and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is in the ring with him. If their attacks fail to unseat Trudeau they will have to work with him.
Work with the feds will involve a range of issues from the carbon tax mess to finances, social matters, education, health issues and Indigenous matters.
Would it not be better to phrase opposition in a more civil tone? A tone should allow for disagreements but draws no lines in the sand.
These premiers have drawn on the Trump attacks toward institutions to get their way in the short term. In the long-term attacks on institutions invariably undermine the entire process and the trust it is built upon.
If the violent-like tone of political debate goes unchecked the Canadian federation will become so dysfunctional that separatism will be seen as the way out of the mess.
Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
