Alberta’s referendum on equalization had little influence on Canadians’ support for the program, concludes a new national survey report released today.
Responses to the Confederation for Tomorrow survey, conducted online and by phone, suggest three-quarters of Canadians and 57 per cent of Albertans support equalization.
The survey included 5,461 adults and was conducted in January and February.
It’s the fourth consecutive year that the poll has been done and the results haven’t changed appreciably in that time for most measures, said Andrew Parkin, executive director of the Environics Institute for Survey Research.
The result comes five months after Alberta’s 2021 civic election suggested otherwise. The Oct. 18 referendum saw 62 per cent of voters support the removal of a Constitutional clause that commits Canada to the principle of equalization transfers to have-not provinces. Alberta cannot make that change unilaterally.
Equalization sees some tax money collected by the federal government redistributed from wealthier provinces to lower-income ones to ensure a basic level of service for all.
Premier Jason Kenney has said Alberta has concerns over billions of dollars its residents pay, while provinces such as British Columbia and Quebec obstruct oil and pipeline projects that underpin that wealth.
Test of referendum’s impact
Parkin thought that the referendum and campaign leading up to it would have moved the needle on the issue inside Alberta or elsewhere in the country.
“This program has withstood this period of scrutiny and criticism and still come out as something that Canadians favour,” he said Monday.
The Environics Institute collaborated with the Canada West Foundation, St. Francis Xavier University, the Centre of Excellence on the Canadian Federation and Centre D’Analyse Politique Constitution Fédéralism on the research.
After the October referendum, Premier Jason Kenney said the result sent a “powerful” message to the federal government to negotiate equalization changes that could be fairer to provinces like Alberta, with boom-and-bust economies tied to commodities.
According to the survey, only about one-third of Canadians — and 46 per cent of Albertans — want to restart constitutional talks to change equalization.
“It means the case hasn’t been made as widely as maybe the premier would want to have it made,” Parkin said.
Alberta had the largest proportion of respondents who correctly knew the province does not receive money through equalization. However, more than half of Albertans either thought the province does receive transfers or weren’t sure.
Parkin says he was surprised the referendum didn’t do more to improve the public’s understanding of the program.
There is no margin of error for the results, as most of the survey was conducted online.
‘Symbol of grievances’
Independent MLA Drew Barnes, who was voted out of the United Conservative Party caucus last year, said he’s frustrated by the government’s silence on equalization since the legislature ratified the referendum result in November.
“We’ve got a premier focused on his political life rather than the future and the financial health of our families,” Barnes said of Kenney’s upcoming party leadership review.
Barnes said Kenney should be pushing harder for a provincial police force, a provincial pension plan and Alberta’s own taxation system to put more pressure on Ottawa.
University of Calgary economics professor Trevor Tombe says the referendum was never about the merits of equalization and he’s unsurprised it didn’t sway public opinion.
“It was a symbol of grievances that touched on a host of other issues, from pipelines to provincial deficits,” Tombe said.
Although the government has said the referendum result should give them more leverage in negotiations with Ottawa, Tombe said that hasn’t been the result.
With oil and gas revenues gushing back into provincial coffers, there’s little reason for the Alberta government to flog the feds for its economic woes, he said.
In an email, Kenney’s press secretary Justin Brattinga pointed to an Ipsos survey in the government’s Fair Deal Panel report that found two-thirds of Albertans felt the province doesn’t get a fair shake from Confederation.
The majority of Canadians support equalization because their provinces are benefiting from it, he said.
“In Alberta, we are elected to represent Albertans and the views of Albertans, and that’s exactly what we are doing,” he said.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
