Thread by @armedwithjello

@giesh81 @k_inux @mmofcan Equalisation payments are the biggest Albertan delusion. Here's the truth: every province is taxes at the same federal rates at all the others. Equalisation payments come out of the general tax pot. AB is *fourth* largest contributor, *behind* QC, ON, and BC.

@giesh81 @k_inux @mmofcan Aleberta doesn't receive equalisation payments because it chooses to remain the only province that doesn't charge PST. Since you opt not to collect the provincial taxes that everyone else does, you are not eligible to receive those payments.

@giesh81 @k_inux @mmofcan So you pay *less* than all other Canadians, yet claim that you pay for everyone else and get nothing in return.

@giesh81 @k_inux @mmofcan In addition to this, the pipeline benefits nobody more than the Chinese corporations who actually own the tar sands. Texas doesn't want AB oil as it's too dirty and expensive to refine compared to their own light crude. China has no oil but needs lots.

@giesh81 @k_inux @mmofcan But China wants to ship oil in single hulled ships not built for open ocean, so they have to travel along the arctic coast. Wouldn't take much to puncture that hull and spill the whole load in the arctic ocean, killing everything.

@giesh81 @k_inux @mmofcan Double hulled ships would be safer and could travel open ocean away from shallows, but they don't hold as much oil so make shipping to China far more expensive.

So the pipeline isn't in Canada's interest, it's in China's, and panders directly to Albertan voters.

@giesh81 @k_inux @mmofcan If Alberta could refine its own oil, the products produced would be far more valuable, but there isn't sufficient power generation in AB to run a refinery. Kenney offered to buy power from QC, but there are no transmission lines for it and you can't pipe or ship electricity.

@giesh81 @k_inux @mmofcan Ultimately, Trudeau knows that the Albertan oil industry will collapse as it is unsustainable, but he bought the pipeline to keep it going a little bit longer because Alberta needs time to develop other industries so the whole province isn't suddenly out of work.

@giesh81 @k_inux @mmofcan Unfortunately, Albertans in general refuse to accept that they need to find other industries to support themselves.