I try not to make too big of a habit of talking Alberta politics here, but Jason Kenney outlined a bunch of policy planks over the weekend, and they’re both bizarre, and a bit concerning. Like, reviving the Firewall Letter concerning.

https://twitter.com/jkenney/status/1109567125163638784

Equalization reform? You mean, the formula that Kenney was at the Cabinet table for the last time the formula was tweaked? And he knows that including resource revenues in the calculations that Quebec will end up getting more, right?

3. Convert Canada Health Transfer and Canada Social Transfer to Tax Points for the Provinces.

— Jason Kenney 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@jkenney) March 23, 2019

The Fiscal Stabilization Fund is how Alberta has been getting additional dollars to help with their recent oil recession – never mind that they still have the highest incomes and potential tax base in the country – but “fairness.” Meanwhile, ending federal transfers in favour of letting provinces raise their own revenue goes against the whole notion of federal transfers to ensure equal levels of access across the country. It’s also like saying he wants to let Alberta raise taxes to compensate for federal funds, but he also keeps promising tax breaks, so go figure.

5. Fairness in Employment Insurance.

— Jason Kenney 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@jkenney) March 23, 2019

I believe that “Trudeau-Notley” payroll tax hike is the reforms to CPP, so that it ensures greater retirement security because people weren’t saving enough on their own. As for fairness in EI, again, Alberta has the highest incomes in the country, and industries that are far less seasonally dependent than other parts of the country. I’m not sure crying “fairness” will get him much sympathy.

7. Corridors Coalition: create pre-approved, guaranteed land corridors for Canadian products to each market.

— Jason Kenney 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@jkenney) March 23, 2019

Exempting Alberta from the CMHC stress test in ludicrous, because the whole point of the stress test is to ensure that banks aren’t saddled with bad mortgage debt. You know, like that whole global economic in 2008 was centred around? But sure, Albertans should be allowed to have bad mortgage debt because they need to keep buying suburban McMansions and pissing away oil wealth and should be exempt from consequences when the world price of oil falls again? Okay. As for those “land corridors,” well, Andrew Leach has a whole thread of questions about this particular policy that showcases that this one-line promise ignores the particularities around environmental assessments, Indigenous rights, and compensating property owners along those corridors (since Kenney is all about property rights, after all).

9. Create an Alberta Parole Board.

— Jason Kenney 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@jkenney) March 23, 2019

An “economic charter” is likely code for another bully tactic to force pipelines through other provinces, but he’s aware how provincial protectionism works, right? And how this has been an intractable issue in Canada since 1867? How his government did pretty much zero about furthering this when he was in federal Cabinet? All a Charter would do is force political questions onto the courts, which is more abdication of political responsibility in this county. Sorry, but no. As for an Alberta Parole Board, why? To what extent? Pardons are a federal responsibility, and while I’m sure it’s great that you want to make a big show of being tougher on criminals in your province than in others, that opens up Charter of Rights violations.

So, sorry, but no. This is all a bunch of empty noise designed to try and make a show of looking tough against Justin Trudeau as part of the Alberta election campaign, and not one of these is serious in any way. But, I guess better to throw a bunch of useless policy planks into the wind than talk about the world price of oil, or the xenophobes and white supremacist sympathisers who keep resigning in his candidates, or his own leadership campaign questions.

Good reads:

• Justin Trudeau called a by-election for Nanaimo–Ladysmith, but not for the other two ridings that were vacated after the cut-off for the next election, mysteriously.
• Karina Gould and Mélanie Joly joined Judy Sgro in telling Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott to put up or shut up if they have more allegations to level.
• Bill Morneau dismisses concerns that there’s not enough in the budget for business competitiveness, and says national pharmacare may yet be an election promise.
• Anne McLellan talks about the role of Special Advisor she has taken on regarding the question on whether or not to split the justice minister and Attorney General roles.
• Thus far, the new impaired driving legislation hasn’t seen a big increase in the number of blood tests by police – but it’s still early days.
• The costs to fix part of the federal pay system could be more than the cost of the system itself (which should be an object lesson in doing things right the first time).
• Andrew Scheer insists the criticisms of his not being tough on hate groups are “baseless,” and then won’t explicitly call out white nationalism.
• Chris Selley notes the Conservatives’ embrace of Doug Ford, and how they are using “not illegal” as an excuse as much as the Liberals appear to be.

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