Alberta
Dane’s Lemonade Stand – Young Dirt Bike Enthusiast Raising Money for Autism Aspergers Friendship Society
As the city gears up for a scorching hot August Long Weekend, one young man is preparing to give back to his community. Dane, a 9-year-old from Calgary will be spending his long weekend helping OHV riders at Mclean Creek Provincial Recreation Area cool off for a good cause.
Dane and his family are heading out to Mclean Creek to camp, dirt bike, and to set up his lemonade stand, where he’ll be selling refreshments for $1 a cup to raise money for donation to the Autism Aspergers Friendship Society of Calgary (AAFS). “He just has the biggest heart,” says Maria, Dane’s mom, “He is the first one to help out when someone needs it.”
Dane was diagnosed with level two autism just over 3 years ago, and his family has been a member of AAFS for the last year. “They’re just amazing,” says Maria, “they give opportunities to these kids and really make them feel like they are a part of something.”
The idea for lemonade stand started when Dane, 7 at the time, told his mom he wanted to buy her a house. What originally began as a fun idea quickly became a very meaningful project for Dane. Seeing it as an opportunity to support her son’s creative ambitions and teach a valuable life lesson on the importance of giving back, they sat down together and decided AAFS would be the most suitable place to donate to.
AAFS launched in 2004 with the support of the Autism Calgary Association. The organization was founded to provide tailored social and recreational programs to kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) where they could be supported and understood, and flourish as members of the community.
AAFS facilitates a number of activity programs seven days a week, including sports, community outings, club nights, outdoor pursuits, and many more. Acting as a major resource for over 700 member families, AAFS believes in “placing faith in our youth, fostering their independence, and making a difference for those who need it most.”
After delaying this year’s lemonade stand during the early summer because of COVID-19, Maria says Dane can’t wait to get out to Mclean this weekend. “For him, the lemonade stand is the world,” she says, “anyone who knows him knows he loves camping, he loves dirt biking, and he loves his lemonade stand.”
If you’re heading out to Mclean this long weekend, bring a few extra dollars and swing by the lemonade stand to beat the heat and help Dane support a great local organization.
Pin for Dane’s Lemonade Stand
Update – August 5, 2020
An update from Dane’s mom Maria says the lemonade stand had a record year, raising a total of $346.90! “The weekend was hot and the guests who stopped by were kind, caring and compassionate,” says Maria.
Along with friends, family and riders, the Alberta OHV Trail Riders group contributed to the success of the stand by offering key chains to any member who made a donation of $10 or more.
For more stories, visit Todayville Calgary.
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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