Alberta, USA???

[MountainTi]

Originally Posted by crazy_davey

So does Canada.

Canada is a far bigger mess. US has some smart people in the background (congress and senate), Canada doesn't.
Until Canada punts the monarchy, nothing will change

[Dylan15]

Originally Posted by Big Grey Wolf

The US has a disfuntional Government today regardless of which party is in power. Why the hell would we consider joining them and their turmoil.

Because at least the individual states are free to govern themselves in a lot of ways, and hold enough power against the federal government based on the constitution. US citizens also are guaranteed rights in their constitution, a far cry from what we have here. Our rights and freedoms are dictated by the whims of the federal government. Each state having an equal amount of senators also brings some more equality there. Democrats in the US would never approve of taking AB, as both senators would likely be permanent Republican based on AB voting history, as well as 65% or more of Congress electees being Republican as well.

Our federal government continually infringes on our provincial governments powers, which are enshrined by law, and the supreme court rules it constitutional anyways. Carbon tax is one example, declared legal under the guise of an emergency. Say Trudeau and Biden are equally incompetent (they aren't), at least under the US system this can be mitigated by the separation of powers. We have little separation of powers here, and what we do have isn't worth the paper its written on.

[35 whelen]

Originally Posted by Big Grey Wolf

The US has a disfuntional Government today regardless of which party is in power. Why the hell would we consider joining them and their turmoil.

No kidding last country I'd want to be a part of

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

[Talking moose]

While we are joining other countries and starting our own countries, I’d like to see a name change for Alberta. Sounds like the name of a male doll.
Grizzly Hills USA or something cool.
Can we?
Please?

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by Talking moose

While we are joining other countries and starting our own countries, I’d like to see a name change for Alberta. Sounds like the name of a male doll.
Grizzly Hills USA or something cool.
Can we?
Please?

You lost all input on name options once you moved to BC lol

[Bigwoodsman]

Originally Posted by Talking moose

While we are joining other countries and starting our own countries, I’d like to see a name change for Alberta. Sounds like the name of a male doll.
Grizzly Hills USA or something cool.
Can we?
Please?

They have a North and South Dakota. Why not a North and South Montana?

BW

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by Big Grey Wolf

The US has a disfuntional Government today regardless of which party is in power. Why the hell would we consider joining them and their turmoil.

Compared to Canada, the USA is no more disfunctional. If Trudeau wins the next election, the USA may be less disfunctional.

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by Dewey Cox

The cows arse is hanging over Newfoundland, someone explain that.


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[densa44]

In my life time we have had 2 Prime Ministers from Alberta, before that there was R.B. Bennet . So it is possible to elect an Alberta Prime Minister. Why don't we give that a shot? One point I'd make is that Stephen Harper said he had more trouble with his own party than he did with the Liberals. I'm beginning to see what he was referring to.
Why not try to find some high quality candidates here, and run them both provincially and federally? I know that they are out there and they might run if they could dial back the extreme right and have a chance of winning.
BTW the issue of "well he doesn't speak french" is a non starter. Joe Clarke was able to learn, and as I was told by the Right Honourable Jean Chretien, "it can't be very hard I learned when I was just a little boy".
So separatism is not going to work, so lets make what we have work!

[HyperMOA]

Originally Posted by densa44

So separatism is not going to work, so let’s make what we have work!

OK. Sounds good. How long should we spend “making it work”? Another 150 years, and then we can call it quits? What are you doing to make it work? I’ll even help.

[Bigwoodsman]

Originally Posted by HyperMOA

OK. Sounds good. How long should we spend “making it work”? Another 150 years, and then we can call it quits? What are you doing to make it work? I’ll even help.

In all fairness Alberta has only been getting screwed over the 118 years. But what we're doing isn't working time to try something new!

BW

[Dewey Cox]

Originally Posted by densa44

In my life time we have had 2 Prime Ministers from Alberta, before that there was R.B. Bennet . So it is possible to elect an Alberta Prime Minister. Why don't we give that a shot? One point I'd make is that Stephen Harper said he had more trouble with his own party than he did with the Liberals. I'm beginning to see what he was referring to.
Why not try to find some high quality candidates here, and run them both provincially and federally? I know that they are out there and they might run if they could dial back the extreme right and have a chance of winning.
BTW the issue of "well he doesn't speak french" is a non starter. Joe Clarke was able to learn, and as I was told by the Right Honourable Jean Chretien, "it can't be very hard I learned when I was just a little boy".
So separatism is not going to work, so lets make what we have work!

We can't vote ourselves a fair deal. Canada has stacked the deck against us.
We will never be an equal part of Canada, because what we need to balance the scale comes from the east's current share, and they are never going to give it up.

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by Dewey Cox

We can't vote ourselves a fair deal. Canada has stacked the deck against us.
We will never be an equal part of Canada, because what we need to balance the scale comes from the east's current share, and they are never going to give it up.

Exactly!, When they set the number of seats per province, they made certain that the east would always retain the power. Then Trudeau took a page out of Hitlers playbook, and made Alberta and Saskatchewan the enemy, to unite the rest of Canada against us, and our oil/gas industry.

[ManitobaSlim]

https://youtu.be/mdCfNWjpl-M

While there re drawings lines may i suggest greater Montana.

[densa44]

There was a time in my lifetime when Alberta was a have not province and received "welfare" from the rest of Canada.
If we tried harder to increase our population by say 3 or 4 million, get some of our best people to run for a federal party, have a workable plan for if we do win a federal election. These are all possible. But just saying you want to separate is not helping, the natives are not going that's for sure nor is Crown land.
This needs to be thought out a bit more.

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by densa44

There was a time in my lifetime when Alberta was a have not province and received "welfare" from the rest of Canada.
If we tried harder to increase our population by say 3 or 4 million, get some of our best people to run for a federal party, have a workable plan for if we do win a federal election. These are all possible. But just saying you want to separate is not helping, the natives are not going that's for sure nor is Crown land.
This needs to be thought out a bit more.

What year did Alberta receive compensation or equalization payments?

I am pretty sure BC and Alberta are the only two provinces to never receive equalization payments

[MountainTi]

Originally Posted by densa44

There was a time in my lifetime when Alberta was a have not province and received "welfare" from the rest of Canada.
If we tried harder to increase our population by say 3 or 4 million, get some of our best people to run for a federal party, have a workable plan for if we do win a federal election. These are all possible. But just saying you want to separate is not helping, the natives are not going that's for sure nor is Crown land.
This needs to be thought out a bit more.

Increase our population by 3-4 million? Wouldn't that be fun
I'd prefer to decrease it actually. One big city worth would be just about right

[Smokinyotes]

Originally Posted by MountainTi

Increase our population by 3-4 million? Wouldn't that be fun
I'd prefer to decrease it actually. One big city worth would be just about right

X10. I think we have about 3 million too many people.

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by Smoky buck

What year did Alberta receive compensation or equalization payments?

I am pretty sure BC and Alberta are the only two provinces to never receive equalization payments

Alberta received a grand total of $92 million, while B.C. received $3 billion. That is equivalent to about $23 for each of our 4 million residents. Compare that to Alberta currently contributing about $22 billion more than we receive in benefits every year.

[FlyTheory]

I’d rather die. Keep Alberta in Canada. Just change how Canada is run.

[Smoky buck]

Alberta’s population is growing and growing fast we will see a 3-4 million population growth

It won’t change Alberta’s political voice because the population out east will continue to grow as well. Getting anywhere in politics also involves being part of the right circles and family. Anyone who doesn’t come from the right circles ends up in a fringe party at best. Even if a fringe party runs on a solid platform they will not attract enough votes because Canadian voters will stick to the main parties and vote to keep out who they don’t want vs who they feel is best for the job

The fact of the matter is Canada has such different needs/priorities across the country there will never be a federal government who truly looks out for all Canadians. There will always be those getting the short end of the stick and a battle for a shift in the opposite direction. Without a major overhaul of the system leaning toward a large increase in provincial power and less federal involvement there will be major mismanagement across the country

I don’t see a shift of power towards provincial and the only other option is separating but I doubt that will happen either

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by elkhunter11

Alberta received a grand total of $92 million, while B.C. received $3 billion. That is equivalent to about $23 for each of our 4 million residents. Compare that to Alberta currently contributing about $22 billion more than we receive in benefits every year.

Thanks for the info

[Dylan15]

Originally Posted by Smoky buck

Alberta’s population is growing and growing fast we will see a 3-4 million population growth

It won’t change Alberta’s political voice because the population out east will continue to grow as well. Getting anywhere in politics also involves being part of the right circles and family. Anyone who doesn’t come from the right circles ends up in a fringe party at best. Even if a fringe party runs on a solid platform they will not attract enough votes because Canadian voters will stick to the main parties and vote to keep out who they don’t want vs who they feel is best for the job

The fact of the matter is Canada has such different needs/priorities across the country there will never be a federal government who truly looks out for all Canadians. There will always be those getting the short end of the stick and a battle for a shift in the opposite direction. Without a major overhaul of the system leaning toward a large increase in provincial power and less federal involvement there will be major mismanagement across the country

I don’t see a shift of power towards provincial and the only other option is separating but I doubt that will happen either

One issue I see is population growth demographics. Rural areas aren't growing at the rate of cities, with some exceptions, and urban centres tend to vote more left. For those of us in rural areas, population growth will only stifle our quest to gain more of a voice in our future. One only needs to look at provincial politics to see this. Few rural politicians will buck a party line unpopular to their constituents, because provincial parties must pander to people in cities to stay in power. Edmonton is fairly firmly NPD, and Calgary decides the election. Just because there would be 4 million more people in Alberta, doesn't mean we are further ahead for having a voice. Our voice is gone if that happens, and the voice in the cities would be largely the same as out east.

Our politicians (Both sides of the line) very rarely take what their constituents relay back to them. Our politicians claim a mandate with any win, no matter how small. Our politicians rarely listen to what the losing 40% of their constituents want. Our politicians are told to tow the party line, at the expense of their constituents. Separating, staying, doesn't matter. If we don't fix this system, it doesn't even matter at the end of the day if we are Canada, Alberta, or USA residents. I don't have many ideas, other than quarterly referendums on policy matters as a start, as well as more town halls that actually result in change. Surely our politicians could use some direction from their voters, not relying on a blank mandate. But, that sounds like work justifying the Brinks trucks we drive around to pay them. Good luck

[I’d rather be outdoors]

This really isn’t complicated at all. Canada treats us like excrement. There’s nowhere to go but up in leaving no matter the end result (independent or joining US).

[Dewey Cox]

Originally Posted by densa44

.
...If we tried harder to increase our population ...

No one is trying harder than me...

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by Dewey Cox

No one is trying harder than me...

I did my share too when hanging out at the Ranchmans in Calgary during the eighties.