Alberta
World Class Musician appearing in a living room near you!
From Eric Alper – Publicist
In the age of social media, where the connection between artist and audience is as close as you can get with a screen diving each other, Home Routes House Concerts are a great way to interact with world-class musicians and bring together friends, family and members of your community.
Halifax-based CHRISTINE CAMPBELL is heading west to perform a dozen of these intimate shows, and arriving into Red Deer on October 26 in a living room exactly like where most musicians’ lives begins to play her brand of hypnotically harmonious, insanely catchy retro-rock.
Christine has attracted top-calibre artists like Jeff Burrows of The Tea Party to add their musical talent to the hard rock/70’s rock/roots and blues songs. And Classified’s co-writing and co-production pumps up the radio-ready element. Roller Coaster offers a narrative of a small town Prince Edward Island girl who has become a powerful performer, known for her unapologetic mastery of guitar, piano and rock vocals.
As a musician dedicated to her craft, discerning fans are thrilled by Christine’s live shows, offering a unique mix of old and new original songs in each performance, as well as a bonus cover or two from her rock heroes and impressive jams and solos. Whether playing intimate acoustic shows with her wingman, Blake Johnston (formerly of The Stogies), or rockin’ out, fully electric with her five-piece band, Christine’s live performances always attract loyal fans.
OCT 24 WED, Home Routes House Concert, Fort Mcmurray, Canada
OCT 25 THU, Home Routes House Concert, Edmonton, Canada
OCT 26 FRI, Home Routes House Concert, Red Deer, Canada
OCT 27 SAT, Home Routes House Concert, Rimbey, Canada
OCT 28 SUN, Home Routes House Concert, Elk Point, Canada
OCT 29 MON, Home Routes House Concert, Lloydminster, Canada
Click here for ticket information
CHRISTINE CAMPBELL
Charlottetown PEI (born) // Halifax NS (now)
Rock / Blues Rock
“Butterfly” — October 19
5-25 lines/quotes on ‘The Making of the Video/Song/Album’ / concept / thoughts
Alberta
Alberta government should eliminate corporate welfare to generate benefits for Albertans
From the Fraser Institute
By Spencer Gudewill and Tegan Hill
Last November, Premier Danielle Smith announced that her government will give up to $1.8 billion in subsidies to Dow Chemicals, which plans to expand a petrochemical project northeast of Edmonton. In other words, $1.8 billion in corporate welfare.
And this is just one example of corporate welfare paid for by Albertans.
According to a recent study published by the Fraser Institute, from 2007 to 2021, the latest year of available data, the Alberta government spent $31.0 billion (inflation-adjusted) on subsidies (a.k.a. corporate welfare) to select firms and businesses, purportedly to help Albertans. And this number excludes other forms of government handouts such as loan guarantees, direct investment and regulatory or tax privileges for particular firms and industries. So the total cost of corporate welfare in Alberta is likely much higher.
Why should Albertans care?
First off, there’s little evidence that corporate welfare generates widespread economic growth or jobs. In fact, evidence suggests the contrary—that subsidies result in a net loss to the economy by shifting resources to less productive sectors or locations (what economists call the “substitution effect”) and/or by keeping businesses alive that are otherwise economically unviable (i.e. “zombie companies”). This misallocation of resources leads to a less efficient, less productive and less prosperous Alberta.
And there are other costs to corporate welfare.
For example, between 2007 and 2019 (the latest year of pre-COVID data), every year on average the Alberta government spent 35 cents (out of every dollar of business income tax revenue it collected) on corporate welfare. Given that workers bear the burden of more than half of any business income tax indirectly through lower wages, if the government reduced business income taxes rather than spend money on corporate welfare, workers could benefit.
Moreover, Premier Smith failed in last month’s provincial budget to provide promised personal income tax relief and create a lower tax bracket for incomes below $60,000 to provide $760 in annual savings for Albertans (on average). But in 2019, after adjusting for inflation, the Alberta government spent $2.4 billion on corporate welfare—equivalent to $1,034 per tax filer. Clearly, instead of subsidizing select businesses, the Smith government could have kept its promise to lower personal income taxes.
Finally, there’s the Heritage Fund, which the Alberta government created almost 50 years ago to save a share of the province’s resource wealth for the future.
In her 2024 budget, Premier Smith earmarked $2.0 billion for the Heritage Fund this fiscal year—almost the exact amount spent on corporate welfare each year (on average) between 2007 and 2019. Put another way, the Alberta government could save twice as much in the Heritage Fund in 2024/25 if it ended corporate welfare, which would help Premier Smith keep her promise to build up the Heritage Fund to between $250 billion and $400 billion by 2050.
By eliminating corporate welfare, the Smith government can create fiscal room to reduce personal and business income taxes, or save more in the Heritage Fund. Any of these options will benefit Albertans far more than wasteful billion-dollar subsidies to favoured firms.
Authors:
Alberta
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