Tuesday’s letters: Province must pay its taxes owed

Article content

Thank you to Mayor Sohi for stepping up and demanding that the UCP pay the $80 million in back taxes owed to Edmonton. Similar to many of us, he is fed up with the UCP’s undemocratic games .

With Smith far too busy spewing her conspiracy theories to her followers, she and the UCP are reneging on their responsibilities. There are 248 provincially owned buildings here and it is unrealistic and nefarious to have Edmonton taxpayers take on the tax load that is not their responsibility. A true and honest government would treat all municipalities equally, not just cater to their misled followers and the MAGA group who are in control of Smith.

Article content

Let’s bombard the UCP with Mayor Sohi’s petition called Fair Compensation Project that is online. Send the UCP a strong message to own up and pay what should have been paid all along.

H.C. Kolthammer, Edmonton

Falling birth rates a global issue

Birth rates are declining across the globe and have been since 1950. Pretty sure Trudeau isn’t responsible for all of that. Some drivers for the decline include economic growth (inverse effect due to better education and better employment opportunities for women), lower infant mortality rates, and the cost of raising children.

This is happening around the world; Canada is not an exception. The decline in Canadian birth rates would have happened regardless of who was prime minister.

Diane Dennis, Edmonton

Safety in numbers on LRT

Re. “City mulls options for LRT safety as interest wanes on fare gates plan,” Oct. 4

Though allocating more money to security is helpful, the real solution to transit security is not more police but to flood the system with increased ridership.

More people taking the transit increases a sense of safety. As taxpayers are the true owners of the system, one option might be to send every Edmonton taxpayer a preloaded ARC card or have “free transit days” so that citizens could sample the system. Time-limited initiatives that provide everyday citizens a chance to trial transit, at low or no cost, will increase ridership and address security concerns simultaneously. Additionally, more users will also lead to better and more efficient transit over time.

Article content

Article content

M.D. Stolte, Edmonton

Poilievre conveys Canadians’ rage

Re. “Poilievre’s anger tough to watch,” Letters, Oct. 1

Maybe Pierre Poilievre is channelling the mood of the majority of Canadians who  are extremely angry at the mess that Trudeau and the Liberals have made over the last nine years. Beyond all the scandals, the mess includes out-of-control spending and immigration, unaffordable housing, class division, deteriorating health care, poorest economic growth in the G7, and a weakened military. I could list more, but you get the gist.

V.H. (Val) Pohl, Edmonton

Economic growth comes with costs

Re. “Let’s untap the potential of our natural resources,” Opinion, Oct. 5

The Chamber of Commerce authors promote investment in Canada’s natural resources, which they define as oil and gas, mining, agriculture and other, in order to power the economy. Yet none of these resources are sustainable, not even agriculture, which results in loss of soil and nutrients and requires constant inputs of fertilizer and herbicides. They state that excluding oil and gas from the economy would mean a loss to the average Canadian of $3,700 per year.

Article content

Yet nowhere do they recognize the unsustainability of natural resource exploitation and its attendant damage to the environment, nor how this approach is counter to the need for climate change mitigation. $3,700 per year seems to me to be a small sacrifice that the majority of Canadians could make compared to the costs being paid by populations most directly affected by climate change.  

The authors tout the export of natural resources as the answer to our annual multi-billion trade deficit. I was in West Edmonton Mall recently and it is full of glitz, glitter and unnecessary, frivolous goods, many of which have been imported. We can start by reducing our imports.

We are constantly being brainwashed with the need for economic growth by those who stand to benefit from it most. Yet the solutions to a sustainable, socially equitable society lie elsewhere.

P.J. Cotterill, Edmonton

Alberta’s oil wealth squandered

Re. “Use tax dollars to pay for public services,” Opinion, Oct. 3

I would like to add a bit to Richard Acuña’s excellent editorial. He mentions that the government we have had for 48 of the last 52 years has mishandled our resource wealth but doesn’t mention the scale of what we have lost.

Article content

Norway and Alberta produce roughly the same amount of petroleum annually but Norway has managed their oil wealth far better. Norway set up a state-owned oil company, Statoil, that by law has a 50-per-cent share in every hole drilled in Norway. They put up half the money, take half the risk and get half the profits.

They started their pension fund 20 years after Alberta set up our Heritage Fund and now have  $2.4 trillion Cdn in that fund. Alberta has less than one per cent of that. Low royalties and tax cuts are subsidies that have funnelled most of our oil wealth to the companies who extract it. Had our government been just half as smart as the Norwegians, we would have $1 trillion in our Heritage Fund instead of the paltry $23.4 billion we do have.

One trillion dollars could provide a revenue stream of $50 billion annually, equal to 60 per cent of our entire annual budget, forever. Instead, we have a continual financial crisis resulting in massive cuts to our essential public services.

Allan Hayman, Edmonton

Smith appeals to fringe minority

Re. “Smith’s populism outrages critics but resonates with rural Albertans,” David Staples, Oct. 4

Article content

Fred Stenson raises three major issues in the question that opens Mr. Staples’ essay: Ms. Smith’s incursions into municipal government; her indifference to oil companies’ tax obligations; her alienation of doctors who plan to leave Alberta.

Staples does not address any of these issues. Instead, he galvanizes the urban-rural divide that mainly benefits the UCP. Cities are home to “out-of-touch” types. Rural Alberta is home to “traditional family-friendly” folks. Smith has “empathy” for rural Albertans who might entertain conspiracy theories. Her “political opponents on the left” have “contempt,” but apparently lack the empathy needed to indulge blatant misinformation.

In fact, Ms. Smith caters to a much smaller demographic than urban or rural: It’s becoming clear to Albertans that she governs for a small, restive minority within the UCP, not for the whole of Alberta. The divisive rhetoric in this opinion piece tends to deflect rather than explain the challenges of political dialogue in this province. A good conversation might begin with the three major issues Stenson identifies left stranded in the opening, since they matter equally to rural and urban people.

Article content

David Gay, Edmonton

No tax dollars for churches

I noted in Thursday’s Journal that the Knox Church downtown is looking to get a $330,000 grant to help pay for its renovations. I say, unreservedly, give them not a dime. Churches are privately owned, non-tax paying organizations that have no right to either ask for or expect to receive support from the public purse.

If the owners of any other private business, a grocery store or movie theatre who at least contribute tax dollars to the city, were to approach the city for money to pay for renovations they wanted to make, they would receive a clear refusal. Public money is for the use by and support of public buildings and projects. If the Knox Church requires money, it must reach out to its members for these funds, not the already overburdened taxpayers.

Bob Thompson, Edmonton

Article content