Alberta
Multiple guns taken off the street as patrol officer spots stolen vehicle
From St. Albert RCMP
St. Albert RCMP seize firearms and arrest one male
On September 23, 2020, at approximately 11:00 p.m., a St. Albert General Duty member was conducting patrols in the Century Casino parking lot and observed a Ford Explorer parked in an unlit area of the property with a male occupant in the driver’s seat. The RCMP member went to investigate and determined the vehicle was stolen.
The male driver was arrested and identified as Wesley Aubichon (36) of Edmonton. Inside the vehicle, the police noticed in plain view a lot of new household items still in boxes along with ammunition for a shot gun. The registered owner of the vehicle indicated that none of the property inside the vehicle was theirs and asked police to remove & secure all the items before they took the vehicle home that night.
Police emptied the contents from the vehicle, while doing so, located the following:
- Remington 12 Gauge 870 Shotgun (loaded)
- 3 Huntgroup Arms Shotguns
- Ranger Shotgun
- Ammunition
- Metal Baton
- Drugs (believed to be Heroin)
- Jewelry
- Canadian Currency
- Security Safe
- Numerous Electronic/Household Goods
- Audio Equipment
- Numerous Cell/Mobile Phones
- Police Equipment/Tactical Vest
- Numerous sets of keys
- Drug Paraphernalia
- Buck Knife
- Tools
Wesley Aubichon was charged with the following Criminal Code offenses:
- Possession of Weapon For Dangerous Purpose X 1
- Possession of Prohibited or Restricted Firearm With Ammunition X 1
- Unauthorized Possession In Motor Vehicle X 2
- Possession Contrary To Mandatory Prohibition Order X 2
- Unauthorized Possession of Firearm X 1
- Possession of Property Obtained by Crime X 1
- Possession of Break-In Instrument X 1
Wesley Aubichon was also charged with:
- Possession of Body Armour Without a Valid Permit X 1 (Body Armour Control Act)
- Possession of Controlled Substance X 1 (Controlled Drugs and Substances Act)
Following a Judicial Hearing, Wesley Aubichon was remanded into custody and appeared in St. Albert Provincial Court on Sept 28, 2020, where bail was denied. His next court appearance is on October 19, 2020 (St. Albert Provincial Court).
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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