Alberta
Two more historic churches in Canada set ablaze by arsonists
From LifeSiteNews
“These are absolutely despicable attacks on the Christian community”
Two historic Christian churches in Canada were intentionally set on fire late last week in what police said were suspected acts of arson.
The incident has Conservative political leaders calling for an end to “attacks” on Christianity after more than 100 churches having been targeted with arson or vandalism since 2021.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) say St. Aidan’s Church, known as Glenreagh Church, and Pioneer Church, a United Church, both located in Barrhead, a town 120 miles northwest of Alberta’s capital Edmonton, were destroyed by arson within only two hours of each other on the evening of December 7.
No one was reported to have been hurt in the fires, but both churches have been extensively damaged, likely beyond repair, despite the best efforts of the Barrhead Fire Services, which was onsite quickly.
Barrhead RCMP confirmed that an initial investigation has determined that both fires were intentionally set. However, an exact motive is not yet clear.
According to eyewitnesses on the ground, two older pickup trucks were seen fleeing the scene.
An initial investigation by fire examiners confirmed that both fires were deliberately set.
Local resident Edith Strawson, whose dad helped build St. Aidan’s Church over 100 years ago, and who got married in the church, as well as some of her kids, said, “We’re putting this back together.”
“We just can’t let that happen and just leave it,” she said as per a CTV report.
Attacks on Christianity ‘must’ stop say conservative leaders
Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) Pierre Poilievre condemned the attacks.
“These are absolutely despicable attacks on the Christian community,” Poilievre wrote Friday on X (formerly Twitter).
“Police must find and arrest the criminals responsible for setting fire to these two churches.”
These are absolutely despicable attacks on the Christian community.
Police must find and arrest the criminals responsible for setting fire to these two churches. https://t.co/ZKUHpaLrzu pic.twitter.com/c7Xxn8qMjb
— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) December 8, 2023
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, the leader of the United Conservative Party, said church burnings have “no place in Alberta” and those who destroyed the churches by arson need to stand for their “crimes.”
She also confirmed that the RCMP is investigating the church fires “as suspected cases of arson.”
“Images like these have no place in Alberta,” Smith wrote Friday on X (formerly Twitter).
“To the parishioners of these churches and to the Christian community across our province, I stand in solidarity with you against all forms of hate.”
Images like these have no place in Alberta.
RCMP are investigating two churches which were destroyed by fires as suspected cases of arson.
To the parishioners of these churches and to the Christian community across our province, I stand in solidarity with you against all… pic.twitter.com/KmdQ3vc98S
— Danielle Smith (@ABDanielleSmith) December 8, 2023
Smith said that the church burnings “are condemned in the strongest possible terms and those perpetrating these crimes must be brought to justice.”
“I am closely monitoring this unfolding situation along with Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis,” she added.
Since the spring of 2021, well over 100 churches, most of them Catholic, but all Christian have either been burned or vandalized across Canada. The attacks on the churches came shortly after the unconfirmed discovery of “unmarked graves” at now-closed residential schools once run by the Church in parts of the country.
In 2021 and 2022, the mainstream media ran with inflammatory and dubious claims that hundreds of children were buried and disregarded by Catholic priests and nuns who ran some of the schools.
Despite the church burnings, the federal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has done nothing substantial to bring those responsible to justice, nor to stem the root cause of the burnings.
Instead, a little over a month ago, Liberal and NDP Members of Parliament (MPs) struck down a Conservative Party of Canada motion that would have condemned incidents of church burnings and acts of vandalism.
In August of 2022, LifeSiteNews reported about the destruction by fire of one of the oldest standing Catholic churches in Alberta. Police at the time said the fire was a “suspicious” incident.
Despite the massive number of church fires in Canada, Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez in May made a brazen suggestion recently that the recent slew of anti-Christian church burnings in Canada could be remedied through further “online” internet regulation.
Those with any information on the church fires are asked to contact Barrhead RCMP at 403-780-674-4848.
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
Official statement from Premier Danielle Smith and Energy Minister Brian Jean on the start-up of the Trans Mountain Pipeline
“The Numbers Favour Our Side”
Making Alberta a geothermal energy leader
Canadian interest in electric vehicles falls for second year in a row: survey
Three Calgary massage parlours linked to human trafficking investigation
Alberta’s vision for passenger rail
Principal at Calgary Elementary School charged with possession of child pornography
States move to oppose WHO’s ‘pandemic treaty,’ assert states’ rights
-
Economy2 days ago‘Gambling With The Grid’: New Data Highlights Achilles’ Heel Of One Of Biden’s Favorite Green Power Sources
-
illegal immigration2 days agoBiden’s DOJ Threatens To Sue Another State For Enforcing Immigration Law
-
ESG2 days agoTennessee Taking Lead In Protecting Civil Rights And Free Enterprise—And Stopping Political Debanking
-
illegal immigration2 days agoMore Chinese Illegal Migrants Apprehended At Southern Border In Two Days Than In All Of 2021: REPORT
-
Energy2 days agoMarket Realities Are Throwing Wrench In Biden’s Green Energy Dreams
-
conflict21 hours agoOver 200 Days Into War, Family Of American Hostage in Gaza Strives For Deal To Bring Son Home
-
Brownstone Institute17 hours agoBook Burning Goes Digital
-
Brownstone Institute6 hours agoThe Predictable Wastes of Covid Relief