Canadian Politics Today

Did you not read the article?   There are reasons that fed spending is lower there...  there's no crazy conspiracy.

The fact that Alberta minsmanages oil revenues isn't the fault of RoC.

why do you say it mismanages oil revenues?  Because it's in deficit?

That's true, it just gets much less of that tax money back compared to other provinces.  It helps subsidize poorer provinces.

There are some very logical reasons for that:

Albertans still have the highest average incomes in the country, so they pay more in federal income taxes.

They also spend more money than other Canadians (because they have more money) so they pay more in federal sales taxes. (Alberta has no provincial sales tax.)
 
The median age of Albertans is 36. (Canada 40, Nfld 46). There aren't as many seniors to receive federal CPP/OAS/GIS, so the federal transfers for that are less. Alberta draws many younger people there for the high paying jobs, they pay their federal income taxes there while working, but they may not stay there as seniors, so their federal benefits are then going to their home province. It's also suggested that many rich Albertans retire to the lower mainland of BC, so again, their federal transfers aren't going to Alberta.

That's a sample of what I learned in a quick google. Sometimes differences are just due to differences, not because of a lack of fairness.

I like your post, but you are explaining irrationality, ie. saying what we kind of already know.

Do people actually know?  I'm skeptical. You asked:

What the **** is wrong with them ?  Why do they take it so personally when one national party loses over another ?

Trudeau campaigned around Quebec and Toronto on "fighting Jason Kenney" and "standing up to big oil".  That might be a vote-getter in Toronto and Quebec, reaching for those cheap easy lines to win votes comes with a cost.  Trudeau isn't the first Liberal leader to do this, of course. Paul Martin talked a big game on mending fences with Alberta, but when the chips were down he was standing on stage applauding while Buzz Hargrove told a rally that Martin's opponents represented "Alberta values, not Canadian values".   Jean Chretien made bickering with Alberta something of a personal brand. And "screw the west, we'll take the rest" was the slogan of the Liberals' war room under Pierre Trudeau.  Scoring cheap political points by attacking some hated "other" is a long-standing political tactic, but it tends to not go over well with the people you've "othered".

Justin may not be a very smart man, but unless he's completely retarded he must know that when he says that kind of stuff in Quebec and Ontario, people hear it elsewhere.  People in Alberta have radios and television and internet just like everybody else. Some of them even speak French. They know the stuff he says when he's talking in Ontario and Quebec isn't the same stuff he says when he puts on his Albertanface costume and comes to the Calgary Stampede each summer.

He can't genuinely be surprised at the regional divisiveness.  Maybe instead of telling Quebecers he's going to keep on fighting Jason Kenney and Big Oil, he should tell them he's going to work with Jason Kenney to help all the people employed by Big Oil get back to work.

1. You need to buy the company before you can build it.  If people are doing that, then

There was a private sector proponent who wanted to build the pipeline who spent a billion dollars doing consultation and negotiating deals to get the pipeline built.  The government only had to buy it because the never-ending legal challenges and obstructionist legal action from BC created the appearance that it was never going to get built, and further spending on the project would be a waste of money.

The fiasco surrounding TMX scared investors to the degree that everybody understood that the process for approving projects in Canada had to be fixed. Which leads us to...

2. My understanding is that the previous process was not independent.  The new process would be less politically biased but take environment into account.

In the form it was originally passed, Bill C-69 was completely ****, and the Trudeau government refused to listen to any criticisms until Rachel Notley threatened to pull Alberta out of the climate accord.  Since then, the senate stepped up and proposed almost 200 amendments and almost 100 amendments passed, but people still think it has serious problems. It gives everybody and their dog and their spirit-animal standing to participate in consultation. It's still full of bizarre and vague requirements like a "gender impact analysis".  One of the Liberals' star candidates in Quebec was boasting that Bill C-69 would ensure that TMX is the last pipeline that ever gets built in Canada. 


 -k

Trudeau campaigned around Quebec and Toronto on "fighting Jason Kenney" and "standing up to big oil".  That might be a vote-getter in Toronto and Quebec, reaching for those cheap easy lines to win votes comes with a cost.  Trudeau isn't the first Liberal leader to do this, of course. Paul Martin talked a big game on mending fences with Alberta, but when the chips were down he was standing on stage applauding while Buzz Hargrove told a rally that Martin's opponents represented "Alberta values, not Canadian values".   Jean Chretien made bickering with Alberta something of a personal brand. And "screw the west, we'll take the rest" was the slogan of the Liberals' war room under Pierre Trudeau.  Scoring cheap political points by attacking some hated "other" is a long-standing political tactic, but it tends to not go over well with the people you've "othered".

Well, ok.  Admittedly I didn't know most of this... or maybe any of it. 

But we know Alberta wants to build the pipeline.  To my mind, Trudeau also very much wants to build it.  He bought a pipeline for $4.5 Billion.

He doesn't want Alberta to die off but apparently he doesn't mind pissing them off.

Justin may not be a very smart man, but unless he's completely retarded he must know that when he says that kind of stuff in Quebec and Ontario, people hear it elsewhere.  People in Alberta have radios and television and internet just like everybody else. Some of them even speak French. They know the stuff he says when he's talking in Ontario and Quebec isn't the same stuff he says when he puts on his Albertanface costume and comes to the Calgary Stampede each summer.

I have to say despite what you quoted, people in Ontario don't hate the west.  All that we heard here was his anti Doug Ford message.  Kenney was mentioned because the conservatives trucked him out here for some reason.

My understanding is that the previous review process wasn't independent.  That's a problem and that was Harper's doing.

There's been lots of handwringing and speculation about how Trudeau will get an Alberta or Saskatchewan representative into his government.  Bring Grant Mitchell or Paula Simmons into Cabinet from the Senate?  Bring in Naheed Nenshi or Ralph Goodale as a Special Advisor?

In my opinion, it doesn't matter.  Nobody gave a crap that Amarjeet Sohi or Kent Hehr were in Cabinet. Nobody slept easier at night knowing that Amarjeet Sohi and Kent Hehr were in Ottawa to stand up for Alberta.  Probably nobody in Alberta would have recognized Sohi or Hehr if they bumped into them on the street, and probably nobody in the PMO knew who those guys were either.   Nobody in Alberta gave a crap about the last Sohi in Cabinet, and nobody in Alberta will give a crap if they find a replacement Sohi either.  Nobody really believed Sohi or Hehr were advocates for Alberta in Cabinet. People believe the opposite-- that they're just there to sell the government's position to their constituents.

I don't think the real decisions are made in Cabinet anyway. I think they're made in the PMO by the same group of insiders, and I don't think it matters if they find some token Albertan to put in the window-sill alongside all the rest of the optics considerations.

 -k

This is a problem Trudeau has and it is a tough one. You hear comments like, wouldn't it be great if he made Goodale a Senator and put him in Cabinet to give Saskatchewan representation. Saskatchewan voters just bounced Goodale and Trudeau giving him a western senate  position and putting him in Cabinet without Saskatchewan's approval, would rightly be seen as just another case of Easterners telling the Western bumpkins what is good for them. I truly hope he is smarter than that.

Let me explain how serious our disunity is.  When Abraham Lincoln was first elected, he did not receive a single vote from the southern states, who were rural and farmers, as opposed to the more industrial and urban north.  The south was now politically alienated.  Obviously, Lincoln wasn't a fan of slavery, which was a big part of the south's economy.  The rest of the US hated their economy, hated slavery, and wanted it banished.

Upon Lincoln's election, the south quickly separated from the rest of the US as a result (triggering the civil war).  Sound familiar?  Just replace slavery with western oil.

Let me explain how serious our disunity is.  When Abraham Lincoln was first elected, he did not receive a single vote from the southern states, who were rural and farmers, as opposed to the more industrial and urban north.  The south was now politically alienated.  Obviously, Lincoln wasn't a fan of slavery, which was a big part of the south's economy.  The rest of the US hated their economy, hated slavery, and wanted it banished.

Upon Lincoln's election, the south quickly separated from the rest of the US as a result (triggering the civil war).  Sound familiar?  Just replace slavery with western oil.

You actually think we are going to start a war over a friggin' pipeline? What cartoons are you watching?