County adopts “Alberta First” resolution

By Deirdre Mitchell-MacLean Times Contributor

Wheatland County’s Division One Councillor Jason Wilson proposed county adopt a resolution on Alberta’s place in Canada during Tuesday’s council meeting.
“I’m not a separatist,” Wilson said as he introduced the resolution. “But if the government of Canada won’t meet us halfway, then what?”
The resolution seeks action from both the federal and provincial government. To the federal government: acknowledgement of Alberta’s financial contribution to the federal government. Albertans have the highest average incomes in the country; while they are not taxed more than other regions, they do pay more in federal taxes than regions where wages are lower.
Secondly, the resolution wants acknowledgement that Albertans pay more into the Canada Pension Plan than they take out. With an average age of 37, Alberta is one of the youngest provinces in confederation today.
It goes on to request the Alberta government create its own pension plan, collect its own income tax, demand Senate reform, institute its own provincial police force and have more control over its immigration; essentially, Quebec but without the lower wages and higher taxes.
The resolution also demands the provincial government “use Section 88 of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Quebec Secession Reference to remove equalization from the Canadian Constitution.”
Finally, if the federal government does not “deal with these demands in good faith,” the resolution asks “that the Government of Alberta will hold a referendum with a ‘clear question’, as defined by The Clarity Act, on the secession of Alberta from the Canadian Confederation on October 18th 2021.”
Council intends to introduce it to the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) zone meeting in February for approval and, hopefully, sponsorship. It will then be introduced for adoption at the RMA Conference in the fall of 2020.