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Re. “Equalization system rigged against Alberta,” Opinion, Dec. 14

The implication in Danielle Smith’s op-ed is that Alberta’s wealth has been transferred to enrich Quebec through equalization payments. That is not true.

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Equalization is a federal government program that is funded from federal corporate and personal income taxes. In 1929, Alberta was given exclusive jurisdiction over our resources so wherever the hundreds of billions of our resource wealth went, it did so with the complete knowledge of and through the actions of our provincial government.

Alberta should be rolling in wealth but instead the previous government chose to enrich oil-company shareholders instead of managing our resources for the benefit of all Albertans.

Since 1986, they haven’t saved a dime and they are solely responsible for the deficit and the debt we now have. To cover that up, conservatives keep perpetuating this myth that our resource wealth has been transferred to other provinces. The financial woes of Alberta are self-inflicted due to the stupid fiscal policies of the government we had for 44 years. Think about that next time you vote.