LP_468x60
ontario news watch
on-the-record-468x60-white
and-another-thing-468x60

Last week, Ted Morton, a former provincial minister of finance and energy (as well as a former professor of mine) made the case in the Calgary Herald for Alberta to embrace a five per cent sales tax.

This of course, is nothing new from Morton. 

For years now, he has admirably trumpeted the benefits of such a tax to help secure Alberta's fiscal stability.  And why wouldn't he?

After witnessing the inevitable rise and fall of oil prices over the past five decades, as well as the rise and fall of provincial resource revenue, Morton is understandably upset that Alberta, alone amongst all other provinces, has yet to implement its own sales tax to stabilize its shaky finances.

Unfortunately, provincial governments of all ilk (Progressive Conservative, New Democratic, and thus far, the current United Conservatives) have not heeded his advice.  All have passed the buck on introducing a sales tax, believing it simply far too controversial.

As is so often the case, fear of an electoral backlash routinely prevents the implementation of sound public policy.

Now though, with worldwide oil prices collapsing yet again, Morton's clarion call to implement such a tax is as important as ever.  After all, Alberta's deficit, once projected at $5 billion, could climb as high as $20 billion this year.  And as Morton rightly points out, "We cannot go on depending on non-renewable resource revenues to fund critical government services: health care, education, social services and infrastructure."  Nor for that matter, can we rely on it to finance the province's growing debt.

A five per cent sales tax, however, would go a long way in restoring some semblance of fiscal stability; something Alberta has long been in need of.

Where Morton and I part ways, though, is in his advocacy for Alberta to simply replace the federal government's five per cent GST with its own five per cent provincial sales tax.

According to him, "Alberta could create a coalition with the other nine provinces, and then together ask Ottawa to get out of the business of collecting GST.  In return, each province would agree to add whatever the federal GST rate is in that province to their existing PST." 

As for the federal government, well, they get zilch.  Such is the reality of inter-governmental negotiations these days.

In Morton's mind, such an act of decentralization is warranted on the grounds of improved economic efficiency.  Doesn't the middleman of Ottawa just get in the way?

Surely though, Morton is aware that Canada is already the most decentralized country in the world.  Further abdication of its spending powers would leave the federal government even more impotent than it already is.

Morton should also realize that Albertans are first and foremost, Canadian citizens.  And as Canadians, they are just as invested in the stability of the federal government's finances as they are their province's.

It's a good thing too, for Alberta is not alone in requiring some financial stability.

As a result of the emergency measures introduced to counter the economic havoc of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada's Parliamentary Budget Officer is now predicting that the federal deficit could reach up to $184.2-billion.  This is no small sum, especially considering that it was only a couple months ago the federal government had been projecting a deficit of $28 billion. 

Surely Morton is aware of this too.  Yet here he is, advocating for an even more constrained federal budget in the midst of a global health crisis.  Its incredulous.

As is, the federal government is already lacking in financial resources.  We can thank the decades of personal income and corporate tax cuts which have depleted government coffers. 

Stephen Harper's GST cuts didn't help much either.  By reducing the GST, Harper cost the federal treasury an estimated annual $14 billion.  Little wonder Canada's federal tax burden recently fell to its lowest level in more than 50 years.

Alas, Morton's policy prescriptions to eliminate the federal GST would only lower that level even further, dangerously so in fact, leaving the Canadian government weaker than it already is.  That would be nothing short of tragic.

Morton deserves credit for his advocacy of a sales tax to stabilize Alberta's finances.  But he is terribly wrong in thinking it should come at the expense of the federal government's fiscal health.

Photo Credit: National Post

The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.


The late Canadian writer George Jonas used to tell a story about how, as a young man, he was walking down a dark, deserted street one night in an East European communist country with his girlfriend, who, worried about being out so late, expressed to him that she was afraid.

"You have no reason to be afraid," he told her, "Unless we run into the police."

That's what it's like to live in a totalitarian society, you fear the government.

I'm bringing up that tale because it came to my mind recently, while I was ambling along Oakville's beautiful waterfront.

Like Jonas, I was afraid of running into the police since I wasn't exactly certain if my peacefully strolling along the lake shore somehow contradicted the town's stringent social distancing laws.

And believe me, authorities in Oakville (where I live) take those laws quite seriously, enforcing them with the fanatic ferocity of the Spanish Inquisition.

Just recently, for instance, a man here was fined more than $800 for the sin of rollerblading in the park with his kids.

Anyway, it got me thinking about how, with all these anti-virus measures our governments have imposed, Canada is starting to resemble the old Soviet Union.

Think about it.

We're not allowed to gather in groups, the freedom to travel is restricted, the government is encouraging us to snitch on our neighbour for "dissident" activity and authorities have the power to shut down any business in an instant.

If that's not like living in a dictatorship, I don't know what is.

Now before any reports me for "improper thinking" to the authorities, let me quickly say I totally get why draconian rules to govern our behaviour are necessary in order to "flatten the curve" and to help stem the rampaging tide of the killer COVID-19 virus.

I'm in no way pro-virus.

Like everybody else I'm hoping the restrictive rules we're currently living under are only temporary and that one day soon, after some smart scientist invents a vaccine, we can go back to our normal Canadian activities, such as watching the Toronto Maple Leafs lose in the play-offs.

Indeed, perhaps one positive from this dictatorial virus lockdown we're experiencing is it's giving us all a learning opportunity to see what life is like when we lose our individual liberties.

Maybe when this virus scare is finally over, we'll all more fully appreciate our precious freedoms, which we often take for granted.

I, for instance, can't wait to once again experience the sublime freedom of being allowed to get a hair cut.

Also, besides teaching us to be grateful for our freedoms, the virus lockdown is giving us an insight into what motivates the actions of dictators.

After all, the reason dictators squelch the freedoms of their people is because they see free thought the same way our leaders currently see COVID-19, as a dangerous virus that could infect the entire population and thus as something that must be thwarted no matter the cost.

This is why things like book burnings, censorship and state propaganda are all key features of totalitarian societies.

Simply put, dictators will clamp a never ending "lockdown" on the human mind.

And the way I see it, the human mind is something that should always be kept free even in the midst of a pandemic.

Alas, our leaders don't seem to see it that way.

As a matter of fact, the federal Liberal government is now talking about limiting the rights of free speech in order to stop "misinformation" about the COVID-19.

As Privy Council President Dominic LeBlanc told the media, "This is not a question of freedom of speech.  This is a question of people who are actually actively working to spread disinformation, whether it's through troll bot farms, whether (it's) state operators or whether it's really conspiracy theorist cranks who seem to get their kicks out of creating havoc."

OK, I get where LeBlanc is coming from here, but the only problem with his logic is that, when it comes to COVID-19, it's often hard to tell the difference between expert opinion and crank theories.

Remember when government experts were telling us that wearing masks wouldn't provide protection?

Maybe I'm a cynic, but it seems to me the real reason the Liberals want to quash free speech is, perhaps, to eliminate criticism of their policies.

In other words, the Liberals are in danger, I think, of crossing that line, of going from a government that uses dictatorial-style powers to stop a virus, to one which uses dictatorial-style powers to stop opposition.

That worries me.

At any rate, it's a nice day; I'm going for a walk to Oakville Harbour.  Hope I don't get arrested.

Photo Credit: CBC News

The views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.