(The Canadian Press)

By Jordan Davidson (Twitter: @JordanDHeyNow)

Referendum questions included on municipal ballot

“Political manipulation”: RDP Poli. Sci. professor weighs in on equalization referendum question

Sep 24, 2021 | 9:07 AM

Albertans will be answering two referendum questions when they vote in the municipal election on Oct.18.

The first question asks: Do you want Alberta to adopt year-round Daylight Saving Time, which is summer hours, eliminating the need to change our clocks twice a year?

While the second question asks:

Should section 36(2) of the Constitution Act, 1982 – Parliament and the government of Canada’s commitment to the principle of making equalization payments – be removed from the constitution?

According to the Canadian government, equalization payments are an unconditional transfer of funds by the federal government to a province with below- average revenue per capita. The idea behind this was to ensure all provincial governments had comparable levels of service and taxation.

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Dr. John Kennair, Professor of political science and law at Red Deer Polytechnic says this question is simply conservative ideology, which involves using Western alienation as a way to make it look like Ottawa is out to get us.

“Equalization really benefits the whole country, but the West always feels left out because we’re currently a have-province, we feel that we’re in this construct of paying more. But the truth of the matter is we weren’t always a have province, and we may not be a have province in the next 5-10 years.”

He said to put it bluntly, it’s “political manipulation”.

“It resonates well with the electorate. The economics for it though make really good sense. It was introduced in 1957, and being entrenched in the Constitution in 1982 in 36 subsection 2. That’s something we’ve had for a while. But this is all to do with the whole, western alienation thing. Alberta screams right now, but tomorrow they might be a recipient of it.”

Kennair says Alberta benefits from the current formula, receiving about $12,000 per person from Ottawa this year, higher than any other province.

“The only difference with an equalization payment versus a conditional grant, is an equalization payment can be spent in any way the province wants it to, whereas a conditional grant has strings attached to it. Alberta benefits from these transfer payments, they just choose to ignore that… It’s perfectly designed to keep us fighting, because the more we fight, the less likely we are to listen to any other form of reason.”

He said if it was removed, the immediate aftermath would be more “ire and angst” from Alberta, but adds that our province does not have the constitutionality to do that unilaterally across the country. Kennair says Alberta would need to find seven other like-minded provinces, plus 50 per cent of the country to support them, and says that’s just not going to happen.

“In essence, all it’s going to do is make Albertans more angry. It’s not going to solve a problem, it’s not going to assuage feelings, it’s just going to make them go, “And again they don’t listen to us!” And the truth of the matter is, why would you listen to them? It’s a moot point. It just says, “hey Albertans aren’t happy with this”, but they’re not happy already.”

Kennair says he can’t see fellow have-province British Columbia supporting the motion, while Saskatchewan is usually right on the border of being a have-not province. Other provinces like Ontario and Newfoundland have gone back and forth from have to have-not provinces over the years.

“There’s a lot of confusion, but when you look at the core of this, it’s really around the construct of sentiment of western alienation. So politically it plays well within that core of the west, plays well here in Alberta. But the reality of it is, it’s not going to happen. You’re not going to find constitutional reform.”

Kennair says aggravating the relationship between Alberta and the rest of Canada is something the current UCP government loves to do.

“They love to blame everybody. We just have to remember when the Conservatives were in federal government from 2006 until 2015, they didn’t change it, they didn’t get rid of it, they maintained it, because it serves that national interest.”

He says supporters of this might not fully understand where the money comes from, noting Alberta doesn’t write a cheque to every have-not province every month. He says the money comes from income tax.

“Alberta does not send money, ALBERTANS do, as Quebecers do. So if I’m in Quebec and I pay a 25 per cent tax on my income, I’m paying the exact same as an Albertan paying 25 per cent tax,” he explains.

Kennair says the issue is a moot point, asking, why would the provincial government have a legally binding referendum that has no chance of ever being enforced?

If Albertans do vote to get rid of it, Kennair anticipates it will be sent to Ottawa where it will then stop dead in its tracks.

“They’ll just look back and go, “well done Alberta. We’ve been listening to you for a long time. This isn’t going to change anything” “.

He says it was former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, along with his cabinet minister Jason Kenney who drafted the new equalization formula.

“They didn’t change it. If Alberta feels disadvantaged, they need to look at who drafted it. And it was them. It’s misinformation, it’s miscommunications, it’s purposely designed to divide, and it’s not going to solve the problem, it’s not going to change anything. All it’s going to do is fester that animosity that we find with Western alienation, that the West feels like it’s not part of Canada.”

Kennair says if Albertans really want to change things, Alberta needs to learn to work cooperatively instead of from an adversarial position.

“Nobody is ever going to listen to you when you’re screaming at them.”

More information on both referendum questions can be found here at alberta.ca/provincial-referendum.