Alberta
Young Red Deer Woman awarded the QEII Golden Jubilee Citizenship Medal
Lt.-Gov. Lois Mitchell honoured young advocates, scientists, artists and volunteers at the Queen’s Jubilee awards ceremony. Red Deer’s Sydney Hucal is on the far right
From the Province of Alberta
The lieutenant-governor and Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk, MLA for Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville, presented recipients with the 2018 Queen’s Golden Jubilee Citizenship medals and Queen’s Golden Jubilee Arts medal at Government House.
The Citizenship Medal recognizes students for their outstanding citizenship, leadership, community service and volunteerism. The Scholarship for Performing Arts honours a student who demonstrates talent and potential in the arts.
Along with a medal, each recipient receives a $5,000 scholarship to further their personal development, as they become Alberta’s future leaders.
“This year’s medal recipients share a sense of compassion and dedication to community service, combined with a tireless spirit of adventure and innovation. They have made great use of these gifts to date and I trust that they will continue to give back as they build their careers.”
“These young people are committed to excellence in everything they do, from scientific research and artistic practice to humanitarian work and charity. I am proud to support them as they pursue their goals and strive to make their communities a better place for all Albertans.”
QEII Golden Jubilee Citizenship Medal recipients
- Kassidy Gerhardi from Cochrane
- Garrett Gerrard from St. Albert
- Sydney Hucal from Red Deer
- Arzina Jaffer from Okotoks
- Fajar Khan from Fort McMurray*
- Andrew Li from Edmonton
- Hope Roberts from Turner Valley
- Tim Zekai Wu from Calgary*
Sydney Hucal (Notre Dame High School, Red Deer) – Sydney has been passionately engaged in many aspects of her school and community. As president of the school council, Sydney led her team in the delivery of numerous school events enhancing the school spirit and building an inclusive environment for all students. Sydney began a kindness campaign called Kind and Kinder based on her belief that the best way to create change was with one small act of kindness at a time. Realizing that little things could make a positive impact on others, she made thank you gifts to students who have made a difference at Notre Dame High School. A key member of the school’s graduation committee, Sydney helped organize the school’s annual service project, raising more than $43,000 for the Aspire Special Needs Resource Centre. Sydney also volunteered as a coach for the Red Deer Special Olympics Swim Team, and was a key member of the Go Girls Youth Empowerment event.
Sydney has just completed her first year in a Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of Victoria. She hopes to own and run her own small business in the future and apply the skills that her community involvement and education have taught her.
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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