Alberta Minute: New Taxes, Unconstitutional Taxes, and more Blockades

Alberta Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Alberta politics.

This Week In Alberta:

• It will be a busy week up in Edmonton with Main Estimates debate. The government's first five Bills for this session have also been announced: Bill 1 (Critical Infrastructure Defence Act), Bill 2 (Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Amendment Act), Bill 3 (Mobile Home Sites Tenancies Amendment Act), Bill 4 (Fiscal Planning and Transparency (Fixed Budget Period) Amendment Act), and Bill 5 (Fiscal Measures and Taxation Act).
  
  
• Main Estimates will begin today with Agriculture and Forestry debating their 2020-21 budget at the Resource Stewardship Committee and Seniors and Housing doing the same at the Families and Communities Committee. On Tuesday, Community and Social Services, Indigenous Relations, and Labour and Immigration will do the same at their respective committees.
  
  
• On Wednesday, the Advanced Education, Municipal Affairs, Justice and Solicitor General, and Energy departments will take their turn, while Thursday will be Children’s Services and Transportation, and the remaining departments will have their go during the week of March 16th.

Last Week In Alberta:

• A new session opened on Tuesday with the Speech from the Throne, and the Alberta government released it's 2020-21 budget on Thursday. Of note, the budget contains four new tax increases including income tax increases via bracket creep, a 3.1% municipal education property tax hike, and new taxes on vaping and AirBnB.
  
  
• The Alberta Court of Appeal ruled that the federal carbon tax is unconstitutional, calling it a constitutional trojan horse, and noting that it erodes provincial jurisdiction. Alberta then immediately demanded to be removed from the federal carbon tax and reimbursed for any taxes paid so far. While this decision was important, ultimately the Supreme Court will now decide.
  
  
• Many Eastern Canadian commuters were furious over the cancellation of GO commuter train services at multiple points across the GTA. While we don't want anyone's lives unduly interrupted, there is a certain irony in watching the East complain after just a couple of days of transportation infrastructure blockades when Alberta's vital transportation infrastructure (i.e. pipelines) has been blocked for years. It's time for Canadians to wake up and realize that these eco-radicals will stop at nothing less than a full shutdown of Canada's economy, and perhaps now the rest of Canada know how it feels.

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