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Opinion: Let Albertans vote to end equalization during spring election

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Alberta has been taken to the cleaners by equalization and other federal transfer programs for decades — over $200-billion net loss in just the past 10 years. The numbers are so big and so brutal that we have become numb to the entire issue — until something like last week happens.

In a short 24-hour period, first, we are told by Quebec Premier Francois Legault that, “There is no social acceptability for a pipeline that would pass through Quebec territory.”

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The very next day, federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau announces that the Trudeau government will increase Quebec’s equalization payments in 2019 by another $1.4 billion to a total of over $13 billion. This means that Quebec will soon be collecting 66 per cent of every dollar in the equalization program.

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In other words, we are happy to take your dirty money but not your dirty oil.

Now is the time to say enough is enough.

Alberta is going to have a provincial election in the next five months. As part of that election, there should be a referendum question on whether the equalization program should be removed from the Constitution. Jason Kenney and the UCP have already promised to hold such a referendum if they form the next government. But why wait? This could take years.

This should not be a partisan issue. Premier Rachel Notley has already publicly denounced Quebec’s hypocrisy. Why shouldn’t the NDP, Liberal and Alberta parties all support doing it now? We are all getting robbed equally. Administratively, it would be simple and cheap to add the referendum question to the ballots for Alberta’s spring election.

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What would be the results of such a referendum? You tell me. But I’d be shocked if there were less than 80 per cent support for this constitutional reform. And that’s important — a clear majority on a clear question. Here’s why.

In 1997, the Supreme Court of Canada, faced with the Quebec referendum on separation, declared that in a provincial referendum on a proposed amendment to the Constitution, if the voting results in “a clear majority … on a clear question,” the federal government has “a constitutional duty to negotiate” the issue. Indeed, the court said that Ottawa (and the other provinces!) must all negotiate “in good faith” to fulfil this constitutional obligation.

While this rule was laid down in the context of the 1995 Quebec referendum to secede from the rest of Canada, the court went out of its way to phrase its ruling in terms that apply equally to a referendum in any province to amend the Constitution.

So what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. If Quebec can do it, so can Alberta. We just have to do it. But then what?

Assuming Albertans support repeal in the 80 per cent range, the next government, NDP or UCP, should hit the road to enlist the support of other “have” provinces that are paying the bill for equalization. Alberta should encourage Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Ontario to hold similar referendums. Ontario would be especially critical to building a successful coalition. This is one of the few times in Alberta’s history that our interests are shared by a government in Ontario. We should seize this opportunity.

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Is holding a referendum to repeal equalization an immediate solution? Of course not. But it would put the issue on the table in a way that could not be ignored. Where would this end? I do not know. But I do know that we must send the message that the status quo — we’ll take your dirty money but not your dirty oil — is no longer acceptable.

Ted Morton is an executive fellow at the School of Public Policy and professor emeritus at the University of Calgary. He held various cabinet posts as a Progressive Conservative MLA.

For more on this topic, http://www.c2cjournal.ca/author/ted-morton/

An earlier version of this column incorrectly stated Bill Morneau’s home province. He is actually from Ontario.

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