Since Canada Won't Work With Alberta, Alberta Needs To Start Looking At Different Options Including Becoming A US State

[Anonymous]

We have a national government that refuses to be cheerleader for our number one export. Any time a loony self-serving mayor says no to Alberta they get their way which is unsustainable for us. BC can pay Quebec's allowance.

[Anonymous]

If nothing else this would be a good bargaining chip. Canada needs Alberta a lot more than Alberta needs Canada. In fact, people in this province would be much better off without Canada. The US would almost certainly accept Alberta into the fold.

"Alberta as a U.S. state would not simply be rich – the richest in the Union, in fact – but would have a vibrantly well-financed and diverse economy that would put its former (and a lot of its new-found) countrymen to shame," writes Zeihan.



Zeihan believes what ought to really weigh on the minds of every Albertan are the province's massive energy supplies. According to Zeihan, Alberta has been getting the short end of the stick and sucked dry for years.



"Alberta produces more energy than the rest of Canada put together, their primary export market is the United States and a merger would eliminate everything from tax liabilities to foreign currency fluctuations," said Zeihan.



However, it isn't just economics or naked self-interest that should determine the future of the province.



Zeihan also argues that an aging population in the rest of Canada is going to place a heavy economic burden on the youthful and growing population of Alberta.



"As the price of that retiree bulge rises, and it's already pushing the Canadian budget to the limit, there is really only one place that Canadians can tax to fund their retiree system that they have promised their citizens. And that is Alberta," said Zeihan.



In an interview with Jen Gerson, a National Post columnist, Zeihan said it makes sense when you look at the demographic transition going on in the rest of Canada.



"Canada's demographic situation is similar to the rest of the developed world — a large population moving toward retirement and hardly any young people in the replacement generation coming up," said Zeihan.



"However, Alberta does not fit that mould. It is the youngest province, and is becoming younger, better paid and more highly skilled as the rest of Canada becomes older and less skilled, and a ward of the state financially."

http://www.brockpress.com/2015/03/u-s-author-believes-alberta-would-be-better-off-with-the-united-states-645/">http://www.brockpress.com/2015/03/u-s-a ... tates-645/">http://www.brockpress.com/2015/03/u-s-author-believes-alberta-would-be-better-off-with-the-united-states-645/

[Anonymous]

Whenever the Liberals are in power we have regional grievances and unity problems. If Alberta left confederation, Saskatchewan would likely make a quick exit too. If we did become a state it should be contingent upon Saskatchewan or Alberta too keeping our universal single payer health care systems and a guarantee of a pipeline being approved that would both provinces crude to market. Anything less and it's no deal.

[J0E]

We have a national government that refuses to be cheerleader for our number one export. Any time a loony self-serving mayor says no to Alberta they get their way which is unsustainable for us. BC can pay Quebec's allowance.

...how about, since you don't like it here, why don't you emigrate there?



no medicare, 1% of the population in jail at any given time, a nation at war always sending its kids to go somewhere and fight.



...plus a nation which is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.



Yeah, America was once golden, the breadbasket of the world, but it is no longer.



This aint 1960 no more.

[Anonymous]

We have a national government that refuses to be cheerleader for our number one export. Any time a loony self-serving mayor says no to Alberta they get their way which is unsustainable for us. BC can pay Quebec's allowance.

...how about, since you don't like it here, why don't you emigrate there?



no medicare, 1% of the population in jail at any given time, a nation at war always sending its kids to go somewhere and fight.



...plus a nation which is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.



Yeah, America was once golden, the breadbasket of the world, but it is no longer.



This aint 1960 no more.

Did you read my post Joe? I said what the criteria would need to be before Alberta or Saskatchewan would exit Canada. Number one would be that we retain our health care systems. Other states can copy it if they wish.



And telling Albertans to emigrate if they don't like having their economy deliberately handcuffed for political reasons is not a solution.

[Anonymous]

^Trolls never read what people write Herm. Actually, they read it and proceed to derail the discussion. They get some sort of childish thrill from it.

[J0E]

We have a national government that refuses to be cheerleader for our number one export. Any time a loony self-serving mayor says no to Alberta they get their way which is unsustainable for us. BC can pay Quebec's allowance.

...how about, since you don't like it here, why don't you emigrate there?



no medicare, 1% of the population in jail at any given time, a nation at war always sending its kids to go somewhere and fight.



...plus a nation which is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.



Yeah, America was once golden, the breadbasket of the world, but it is no longer.



This aint 1960 no more.

Did you read my post Joe? I said what the criteria would need to be before Alberta or Saskatchewan would exit Canada. Number one would be that we retain our health care systems. Other states can copy it if they wish.



And telling Albertans to emigrate if they don't like having their economy deliberately handcuffed for political reasons is not a solution.

Herman, I think there was a time when America was great. Golden actually.

But that time in history has passed them by.

We or any part of our nation would be be crazy to join them now.

If anything, it'll be Americans who'll want to come here.

[Anonymous]

If we stay in Canada or join the United States, Alberta will thrive.

[Anonymous]

We have a national government that refuses to be cheerleader for our number one export. Any time a loony self-serving mayor says no to Alberta they get their way which is unsustainable for us. BC can pay Quebec's allowance.

...how about, since you don't like it here, why don't you emigrate there?



no medicare, 1% of the population in jail at any given time, a nation at war always sending its kids to go somewhere and fight.



...plus a nation which is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.



Yeah, America was once golden, the breadbasket of the world, but it is no longer.



This aint 1960 no more.

Did you read my post Joe? I said what the criteria would need to be before Alberta or Saskatchewan would exit Canada. Number one would be that we retain our health care systems. Other states can copy it if they wish.



And telling Albertans to emigrate if they don't like having their economy deliberately handcuffed for political reasons is not a solution.

Herman, I think there was a time when America was great. Golden actually.

But that time in history has passed them by.

We or any part of our nation would be be crazy to join them now.

If anything, it'll be Americans who'll want to come here.

Don't worry about Alberta or Saskatchewan. Worry about BC which will face the same price discounts trying to sell natural gas to the states or a US state department that will block gas pipelines from BC to the rest of Canada. Canada will be forced to buy natural gas from the newest US state of Alberta.



Alberta and Saskatchewan leaving Canada would crush BC's economy and living standards quickly.

[Anonymous]

Don't worry about Alberta or Saskatchewan. Worry about BC which will face the same price discounts trying to sell natural gas to the states or a US state department that will block gas pipelines from BC to the rest of Canada. Canada will be forced to buy natural gas from the newest US state of Alberta.



Alberta and Saskatchewan leaving Canada would crush BC's economy and living standards quickly.

Ignore the troll Herm. Trust me, he's not listening to you.



Anyway, you are right about BC. If Alberta pulls the pin, that province is doomed. After a couple of years separated from Canada physically, but picking up the equalization slack they would be an economic basket case. Mexico wouldn't let them become a state let alone the US.

[J0E]

Don't worry about Alberta or Saskatchewan. Worry about BC which will face the same price discounts trying to sell natural gas to the states or a US state department that will block gas pipelines from BC to the rest of Canada. Canada will be forced to buy natural gas from the newest US state of Alberta.



Alberta and Saskatchewan leaving Canada would crush BC's economy and living standards quickly.

Ignore the troll Herm. Trust me, he's not listening to you.



Anyway, you are right about BC. If Alberta pulls the pin, that province is doomed. After a couple of years separated from Canada physically, but picking up the equalization slack they would be an economic basket case. Mexico wouldn't let them become a state let alone the US.

Actually Shen, I don't like how certain groups diss Alberta oil & pretend that they don't need it all the while they depend on and rake the profits in from. I'm actually for the oil industry in Fort Mac/Alberta. I supported the Keystone pipeline proposal. However, I do think that some criticisms of them were valid. That under the last Conservative federal provincial governments there, they didn't do enough to diversify the industry. Shouldn't just be oil . Alberta could be an energy superpower, with oil extraction as just one part of it. With all its wealth and the recent oil boom, it didn't seem that the province did quite enough to diversify itself against a downturn which inevitable comes with all these boom bust cycles there.

[Anonymous]

The new federal government thinks Albertans should be refreshed that Ottawa will not only not champion Alberta's industry, they will let selfish mayors and premiers call the shots on what the national interest is. I wonder how refreshed Ottawa will be when Albertans have had enough and start asserting themselves in a way not seen since another Trudeau was PM.

New StatsCan 'net jobs numbers' came out and the news was extra bad for Alberta. Alberta has shed 100,000 gross jobs with a net jobs loss of almost 20,000. StatsCan had to revamp their numbers from just a couple weeks ago, when they announced 15,000 net jobs had been lost in Alberta. Analysts are saying this downturn is the worst since 1982, during Pierre Trudeau's National Energy Program.



With this bad news in hand, rookie Lakeland MP and rising star in the new federal Conservative caucus, Shannon Stubbs, held the Liberals feet to the fire with a question that should make any Albertan beam with pride. She asked, "Mr. Speaker, I am proud of Alberta's world leading energy sector. When is the Natural Resources Minister or any of the 4 Alberta Liberal MPs finally going to support Alberta's energy workers who contribute so much to Canada?"



Hang on, I'm wiping away a tear of pride. Okay, I'm good.



A Liberal MP from Calgary, the Veterans Affair Minister, Kent Hehr fielded this one. And it was ugly. He replied "The people I am talking to, they're actually refreshed by the new approach of this government."



The howls and jeers from the opposition benches nearly overwhelmed the Veterans Affairs Minister as he struggled to finish his ridiculous response that rambled on into "Sunny Ways" territory. It culminated with an invitation for Ms. Stubbs to come to Calgary to talk to Liberal voters, presumably.



Stubbs represents a large Alberta riding that encompasses both Bonnyville and LLoydminster, two oil patch towns. She knows exactly what the downturn in oil and gas coupled with lack of pipeline infrastructure is doing to the people in her riding. She doesn't need to go to Kent Hehr's downtown Calgary riding to talk to Liberal voters to find out.



Are you like me? Are you getting pretty tired of Liberals telling you that you need to be more cheerful while you watch your friends and neighbours get laid off? Is the last thing you feel when the economy is so precarious "refreshed"?



Imagine if a Conservative cabinet minister had shrugged off the woes in the auto sector in 2008 and 2009 for sunny ways, refreshing attitudes and smug platitudes the way Kent Hehr just did. The CBC and the Liberal media would be going full supernova.



But it's Alberta that's hurting this time. So it's way different I guess. It's being ignored by everyone but the Rebel and you.

http://www.therebel.media/liberal_mp_claims_albertans_refreshed_by_trudeau_s">http://www.therebel.media/liberal_mp_cl ... _trudeau_s">http://www.therebel.media/liberal_mp_claims_albertans_refreshed_by_trudeau_s

[RW]

If you don't like how Canada runs things, MOVE TO THE US.  You don't have a maple tree tied to your leg.



This leaving Canada shit is so fucking ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

If you don't like how Canada runs things, MOVE TO THE US.  You don't have a maple tree tied to your leg.



This leaving Canada shit is so fucking ridiculous.

That is not even a serious argument RW and you know it. For a host of reasons, Alberta's departure from Canada is all but inevitable. At the very least, Alberta will speak to Canada from a position of strength which will lead to demands for more. BC's living standards will drop faster than Alberta's credit rating under Nothead when we are gone.

https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtp1/v/t1.0-9/12646951_460106597530656_354823943967732664_n.jpg?oh=c070d7a9579b486985c32c442e77e983&oe=574358D0">

[RW]

HAHAHA!  Inevitable!  Hahaha



Hear that ringing Shen?  It's reality calling.