Wildrose Party
News release
It’s time Alberta demand fairer treatment from Ottawa as the federal Liberal government is raising taxes on Alberta’s oil and gas companies, while continuing (again) to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into eastern Canadian companies, the Wildrose Official Opposition said today (March 30).
Today, the federal government announced it would pour over $100 million into Ford Motor Co. In February, Bombardier received a $372 million loan for Bombardier, despite the company’s vice-president saying that federal funding is “really just an extra bonus that would be helpful, but is very clearly not required.”
“Alberta’s energy sector is still reeling from low commodity prices and we have seen 81,000 full-time jobs in our province disappear since 2015,” Wildrose Leader Brian Jean said. “The NDP government praised the federal budget, but Albertans are right to be frustrated seeing these massive corporate welfare loans to companies out east, while our energy sector gets tax hikes and new carbon taxes.”
In the Equalization Fairness Report commissioned by the Wildrose Caucus, it found that Albertans on average send $24 billion more to Ottawa every year than the province gets back in transfers or services.
“Albertans expect to be treated fairly and with respect given the enormous amount we have and continue to contribute to all of Canada,” Wildrose Shadow Finance Minister Derek Fildebrandt said. “This type of massive corporate welfare to eastern industries while unemployment rates are near record highs in Alberta is wrong.”