Fact Check: Would Alberta lose services upon becoming independent?
Alberta is already shortchanged through the federal government's redistribution of taxpayer funds.
Lethbridge resident Trevor Lewington wrote a piece in the St. Albert Gazette expressing fear that Alberta would lose its “invisible partner” if it were to become independent. The partner he is referring to is the federal government, and its partnership has been invisible indeed.
He then goes on to list expenditures made in Alberta and implies they were some sort of gifts provided by a benevolent, distant power rather than the natural transfer back of Alberta’s funds. It is money collected from Alberta payrolls, profits, and consumption, then sent back in smaller envelopes.
Fraser Institute estimates using Statistics Canada’s fiscal-balance method put federal revenues collected from Alberta at about $77 billion in 2024 against $52.5 billion in federal spending in the province. In other words, Alberta can cover all the items listed by Lewington and still have a great deal of pocket change left over if it were to depart the federation.
Lewington paints the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion debacle as a success. Ottawa bought the line when private capital walked. That is true, and incomplete. Private capital walked after years of federal and interprovincial blockage. The feds then spent on the order of $34 billion to finish a project when all it really had to do was get out of the damn way. The asset now sits on Ottawa’s books and sends dividends and interest back to the federal treasury. Not exactly a great “partnership.”
Lewington treats the Fort McMurray and 2013 flood payments as evidence that Confederation is a risk-sharing club Alberta cannot replace. Shared risk is a reasonable principle. It is not a one-way valve. Albertans already finance disaster response in other provinces through the same federal tax system that cut those cheques. A $300 million or $500 million recovery payment is real money. It is also a few days of Alberta’s typical net federal contribution.
An independent Alberta would still face wildfires and floods. It would also keep the tax room now sent east. Whether the replacement vehicle is a provincial disaster reserve, reinsurance, or a rainy-day fund drawn from retained federal revenues is a design problem, not a solvency problem. Norway does not need Ottawa to put out a fire. Let’s not pretend that Ottawa’s fine forestry management helps protect Albertans. Ask Jasper residents how well that all turned out.
Lewington lists several other items from transfers, from creating irrigation canals to research grants in universities to transit funding in cities. All those items can be covered within an independent Alberta and, best of all, they wouldn’t come with all the strings Ottawa currently attaches to them.
Ottawa doesn’t create funding. It collects from provinces and then redistributes funds after taking a massive bite for its own operations. The redistribution in transfers and services always leaves Alberta gravely shortchanged. Alberta has been covering the items on Lewington’s list for years and covering everyone else’s besides.
Cory Morgan
Cory Morgan is an Alberta-based columnist, political commentator, and longtime advocate for Western Canadian independence. He is the author of the recently updated book The Sovereigntist’s Handbook, a grassroots guide for independence supporters and political activists.
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