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Alberta

First Nations Trapper calling for a team to support farmers, loggers, miners, and “fossil fuel people”

Published

4 years ago

6 minute read

Wun Feather calls himself a “culturally traditional” First Nations trapper.  He’s also a pretty good writer, photographer, and communicator.  Wun’s been observing and sharing his thoughts and images about industry, the environment, and the people who care about them in extremely popular social media posts.  The post here has been shared almost 10,000 times so far.

In this post the culturally traditional First Nations trapper called Wun Feather shares his thoughts about the rush to replace fossil fuels.  He doesn’t approach this as a right vs left issue.  He may be onto something.  In this time of crisis more and more people are prepared to act and think across the spectrum.  Enjoy Wun’s unique perspective.

By Wun Feather

Hey team.
I am calling you a team, because I honestly feel that we are all working together towards a common goal.
Someone asked me if I stand in Solidarity, and Before they added the last word, I said “I sure do”
I am speaking out for what I call #TeamCanada
I recognize that without the farmers doing what they do, I would never have flour for my bannock.
I would never have vegetables for a salad, or potatoes to smother in butter or gravy.
Without the ranchers, I would never have eggs, or chickens or beef for my burgers.
Or the medium rare steak that is going to taste so good over a camp fire.
Without the loggers I would have no lumber to build my tree stands, and without pulp and paper people, well.. let’s just say I do not like the feel of leaves on my derriere.
Without the miners we would have no minerals to make things out of, and without the power and cellular service providers I would be in the dark.
I would have to send you this post via smoke signals.
Without restaurants and fast food places and grocery stores, I would be living back on the land like my ancestors did.
I could go on and on and on, but I have to speak up for the fossil fuel people.
Without thermal or metallurgical Coal, Alberta and many countries around the world would have no power, and they would have no Coke for making Steel.
And without diesel in the tractors, without diesel in the ships or trains or transport trucks, the whole world would grind to a stop.
We all know that Climate change is real.
The climate has been changing for millions of years.
Actually, climate change is the reason that plants have become coal, and dinosaur fossils have become oil.
I bet that we also agree that we have all become dependent on fossil fuels.
But just like we humans have discovered new technologies to replace the old, someday we will find an alternative for fossil fuels.
But we are not there yet.
Remember the big fight between Sony Beta and VHS??
Haha.
I sure do.
Google it kids.
But my point is that neither one of those media’s is used any more.
That supports my theory that someday we will no longer use fossil fuels.
But right now the hard reality is that we need fossil fuels for our hospitals, our schools, and our deep fryers at MacDonalds..
Cheese Whiz..
Haha. I mean Gee whiz.
Even most homes nowadays have pipelines that go through the ground to their houses that bring water or natural gas or propane.
And some houses have pipelines that take the poop away.
So I also stand with the people who know how to put the pipes in the ground.
No one wants anything to happen with their sewer pipes, right?
Isn’t it funny that people do not protest the people who put the poop lines in their yards?
There are no activists stopping them from doing their jobs.
I hope I have made myself clear.
I also stand by the people who make my pants and socks and those nice wicking underwear!
Without oil and gas we would not have nylon or polyester, or fake fur coats.. oops.
I prefer the real fur.
So when someone asks you:
“Who does Wunfeather stand in solidarity for?”
I guess my answer is that I stand for the collective.
I stand for the hard working people who bust their butts each day to make a living so their families can have a better life.
Oh..
Just one more thing.
I love our military.
Seriously.
The Airforce and the Navy, and most of all, if I could solute every PPCLI and Airborne member, you bet your life I would!
But I am just an old Indian Trapper, thanking the people like us who matter the most.

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After 15 years as a TV reporter with Global and CBC and as news director of RDTV in Red Deer, Duane set out on his own 2008 as a visual storyteller. During this period, he became fascinated with a burgeoning online world and how it could better serve local communities. This fascination led to Todayville, launched in 2016.

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Alberta

Alberta government should eliminate corporate welfare to generate benefits for Albertans

Published on May 2, 2024

By

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:

Spencer Gudewill
Policy Analyst, Fraser Institute
and
Tegan Hill
Associate Director, Alberta Policy, Fraser Institute
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Alberta

Official statement from Premier Danielle Smith and Energy Minister Brian Jean on the start-up of the Trans Mountain Pipeline

Published on May 1, 2024

By

Alberta is celebrating an important achievement for the energy industry – the start-up of the twinned Trans Mountain pipeline. It’s great news Albertans and Canadians as this will welcome a new era of prosperity and economic growth. The completion of TMX is monumental for Alberta, since this will significantly increase our province’s output. It will triple the capacity of the original pipeline to now carry 890,000 barrels per day of crude oil from Alberta’s oil sands to British Columbia’s Pacific Coast.
We are excited that Canada’s biggest and newest oil pipeline in more than a decade, can now bring oil from Edmonton to tide water in B.C. This will allow us to get our energy resources to Pacific markets, including Washington State and California, and Asian markets like Japan, South Korea, China, and India. Alberta now has new energy customers and tankers with Alberta oil will be unloading in China and India in the next few months.
For Alberta this is a game-changer, the world needs more reliably and sustainably sourced Alberta energy, not less. World demand for oil and gas resources will continue in the decades ahead and the new pipeline expansion will give us the opportunity to meet global energy demands and increase North American and global energy security and help remove the issues of energy poverty in other parts of the world.
Analysts are predicting the price differential on Canadian crude oil will narrow resulting in many millions of extra government revenues, which will help fund important programs like health, education, and social services – the things Albertans rely on. TMX will also result in billions of dollars of economic prosperity for Albertans, Indigenous communities and Canadians and create well-paying jobs throughout Canada.
Our province wants to congratulate the Trans Mountain Corporation for its tenacity to have completed this long awaited and much needed energy infrastructure, and to thank the more than 30,000 dedicated, skilled workers whose efforts made this extraordinary project a reality. The province also wants to thank the Federal Government for seeing this project through. This is a great example of an area where the provincial and federal government can cooperate and work together for the benefit of Albertans and all Canadians.
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