Alberta
Lost in the Pandemic
By Daryl McIntyre
Lost in the Pandemic
Such a surreal time. So many of you have said it. So many of us are living it. The reasons are myriad. We all have our own stories. I’m just going to share mine; my personal perspective.
I feel like I should be informing people. It’s what I did for 36 years. Through every major news story since the early 80’s .. I had the privilege and duty to share information. Now, I’m the one looking for it. I’m looking for the credible news sources to tell me what’s going on in our world right now. I really miss being in the centre of it all. I miss being the source of information .. not just the consumer.
I’m also finding something new. There are a lot of options for information these days. (though you really have to curate your sources) I appreciate the major news organizations… the so-called main stream media. I used to work within that system and I guarantee that every individual working at those news organizations is doing their absolute level best to serve the public with credible information . That is something I was proud of and proud to defend throughout my time in the industry.
Six months after having to leave my broadcasting job .. I have had a lot of time to reflect. I completely checked out from the news of the day after departing CTV Edmonton. I understand now why so many people are happy to avoid reality. It truly is “blissful ignorance.” I also missed being involved in the world of daily local news and I simply didn’t want to watch. It was too painful.
The reality of the Covid-19 pandemic however has forced me to re-connect. I need information. My friends and relatives need information. I am getting it through main stream media because I know the individuals involved. They are doing the best they can.
I am also gleaning information from other cited sources through social media. This is a delicate world. You need to be fully aware. You need to be thoughtful. You need to question. You need to analyze but there is a lot of important, useful, insightful information on line.
Old news people like to “preach” to the public they used to broadcast to as a way to continue to feel relevant. I’m not preaching. I just want all of you to focus on real information .. not spin. Facts .. not rumour. The most important thing you can do right now is focus on your family, your friends, your community.
Be informed. Be factually informed. Fight misinformation. Stick together literally or figuratively.
I look forward to seeing you all on the other side.
Daryl McIntyre worked in television news for close to 4 decades. He was anchor of CTV News at 6 in Edmonton for more than 30 years.
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“It’s going to be OK!” Sweet message of hope from one small business to all the others
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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