Politics Archives - Page 7 of 11

A Sales Tax for Alberta- Why and How Book Launch

24Sep

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Fiscal History, Government Finances, Politics

A Sales Tax for Alberta- Why and How Book Launch

This past Thursday a book launch took place at the University Club to celebrate the publication of A Sales Tax for Alberta. Below are my speaking notes and pictures from this celebration. Speaking Notes- Book Launch Book launch A Sales Tax for Alberta- Why and How University Club, Edmonton 22 September 2022 My friends, the journey has not ended, it is just beginning! An inflated ego drove this project in the vain hope that we might convince one courageous politician to choose to take on this controversial project - a sales tax for Alberta. There are so many who helped this book across the goal line providing support and thoughtful feedback. First to my wife Linda who has been both a catalyst and huge support through what became a longer journey than expected. The initial germinatio...

30Jul

By Bob Ascah1 Comment

Budget, Fiscal History, Government Finances, Politics

A Sales Tax for Alberta and the UCP leadership race

Updated 16 August 2022 Well it didn't take too long for a conscientious staffer in Travis Toews' campaign to ferret out the 4 September opinion piece in the Edmonton Journal. In the article Smith setting forward what I think are credible views about Alberta's topsy-Turvey finances stated- Instead, he (Klein) bought off progressives by spending an excessive and unsustainable amount on public services and he bought off conservatives by lowering taxes below the cost of delivering programs. Now the public service screams holy hell at the mention of austerity and taxpayers say they aren’t prepared to pay a dime more. I’m here to tell you: Everyone — on both sides of the political spectrum — needs to suck it up. Alberta needs a three-step financial reset. Step 1: Liquidate the Heritage Fund...

4Jul

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Energy, Government Finances, Investment, Politics

Alberta’s Job Creation Tax Cut: Theory and Reality

In 2023, a book on the Kenney government edited by Ricardo Acuna and Trevor Harrison will be released. I contribute one chapter on Alberta’s Job Creation Tax Cut examining critically whether this one-third cut to corporate income tax has had any positive impact on Alberta’s economy in terms of investment, jobs and wages. In this post (which is not part of the book chapter), I explore the theory behind the corporate income tax cuts. The critical element in my view is in assessing the nature of capital and labour in Alberta and in particular the energy sector, most notably the oilsands. Background In the UCP’s 2019 election platform, a key policy plank was to cut the corporate income tax from 12 per cent to 8 per cent over four years. Two economists- Jack M...

3Jul

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Politics

Leadership

Friday was Canada's 155th year of existence as a sovereign state and tomorrow the United States of America celebrates "independence day"- it's 246th. James David Barber's classic The Presidential Character Predicting Performance in the White House first published in 1972 and updated in 1977 has been sitting on my bookshelf for decades unread. Today I pulled it out. The preface quoted below- written in American political science code- appealed to my accumulating concerns about our current political leaders but also apply as well to corporate and institutional leadership. The preface written three years before actor Ronald Reagan captured the White House is a prescient warning about the loss of meaning, the shallowness of our political and corporate class, and the public's percepti...

15Jun

By Bob Ascah3 Comments

Budget, Fiscal History, Government Finances, Politics

IT’S FINALLY ARRIVED: A Sales Tax for Alberta: Why and How

Updated 8 July 2022 Interview with Shaye Ganam 630 CHED/ 770 CHQR https://omny.fm/shows/ched-mid-morning/a-sales-tax-for-alberta-why-and-how Read Ascah's opinion piece in the Edmonton Journal 8 July 2022. No this isn't official..yet... and this isn't a prediction or April Fool's Day joke. It's a book that promises to be a summer blockbuster! Sure, I'm the editor and contributor but there are six other academics, financiers, and journalists who weigh in on this controversial subject. Graham Thomson Mel McMillan Ergete Ferede Elizabeth Smythe Ian Glassford Ken McKenzie BUT THERE'S MORE: a foreword from Kevin Taft and Afterword of Trevor Harrison. The volume is the cumulation of a project begun in the fall of 2018, prior to the last provincial elect...

6Jun

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Agencies, Energy, Environment, Politics

Balancing Pool Act- Public interest or political posturing

On 21 April, apparently in response to opposition demands that the UCP government stop withdrawals of utility services and get cheques or rebates into the hands of Albertans quickly, Associate Minister of Natural Gas and Electricity Dale Nally issued a news release. During a 17-minute news conference Nally took the former NDP government to task when releasing a March 2021 report from Deloitte LLP on the financial position of Alberta's Balancing Pool (ABP). The report concluded that the cost of the policy changes totaled $1.34-billion. It is ironic that this is about the same number that the UCP government lost from its bet on TC Energy's Keystone XL pipeline. Dale Nally, Associate Minister of Natural Gas and Electricity Nally was in true fighting form demonstrating lessons he h...

Presentation to the Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs

26Apr

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Agencies, Intergovernmental, Opinion/Research, Politics

Presentation to the Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs

On 31 March I made the following presentation to the Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs about my Parkland paper Can AIMCo be Fixed? You can view the presentation on Youtube here. The discussion after the presentation was stimulating and wide ranging and highlighted concerns about government politicians interfering with public sector pensions. The Medicine Hat News had a story about the presentation on 13 April 2022. Below are my speaking notes and below that is a PDF of revised slide deck. (One of the numbers in Figure 2 had to be restated.) "Good afternoon everyone! I am speaking to you from Treaty 6 territory, a traditional gathering place for diverse Indigenous peoples including the Cree, Blackfoot, Métis, Nakota Sioux, and many others whose histories,...

27Feb

By Bob AscahNo Comments

Budget, Economic Data, Energy, Government Finances, Opinion/Research, Politics

Budget 2022: the 2023 election begins

Analysis and Opinion On Thursday afternoon, 24 February Travis Toews tabled his fourth budget. From the standpoint of the United Conservative Party, the budget was an unadulterated triumph. Sure, higher oil prices had something to do with the anticipated surplus in 2022-23 ("a traffic cone could balance Alberta's budget," NDP opposition leader Rachel Notley proclaimed before the speech). admitted Toews to interviewers, but other revenue sources were healthier. By sticking to the fiscal plan as outlined in September 2019 by the MacKinnon panel, the government had done the hard lifting of keeping expenses from growing and attracting investment and Albertans were now reaping the fiscal and economic rewards. In this post, I examine the budget address of Toews, its key messages and its impli...

21Jan

By Bob Ascah1 Comment

Energy, Energy, Politics

Gordon Laxer on Big Foreign Oil

Balancing perspectives: Why was foreign influence exercised in Alberta’s Oilpatch not investigated by the Allan Inquiry? Gordon Laxer is one of Canada’s foremost political economists. He was the founding director of The Parkland Institute at the University of Alberta and is the author of many books, articles, and opinion pieces on Canada’s oil and gas sector. Abpolecon.ca is pleased to share with our readership Dr. Laxer’s recent work on foreign influence and control in Canada’s oil and gas sector. In a report, co-published by the Council of Canadians and CPPA Saskatchewan and B.C., entitled “Posing as Canadian- How Big Foreign Oil captures Canadian energy and climate policy,” he counters the widely derided Allan Inquiry report into foreign funding. Laxer finds it hypocritical of UCP polic...

9Jan

By Bob Ascah2 Comments

Budget, Energy, Government Finances, Politics

Alberta’s Revenue Options: Presentation to Association of Retired University Professors, U of A

Presentation On Thursday, 6 January I was invited to make a presentation on what the province's revenue options were going into the next budget. Provincial budgets by law must be presented before the end of each February. The presentation generated a great deal of discussion which will be touched on below. The PDF of presentation can be found at the foot of this article. The purpose of the discussion was to stimulate an exchange of ideas concerning what future Alberta governments might do to raise more revenue. I began by defining what I saw as the problem. The first problem is the Alberta government's over-reliance on resource royalties to fund its spending. The second issue is that Alberta has not achieved a budgetary surplus without resource revenue since at least 1965. The first ch...