Prosperity Checks

[TOM4CWB]

Just heard on the news that the Premier has indicated that Albertans may get another round of prosperity checks later this year.
Interesting that announcement would come ten days before the PC Convention and the Leadership review !!!

[ivbinconned]

Ralph...acting like the liberal he's always been.

[wilagro]

Good Gawd...the neighbour down the road with eight lousy...(oops) darling little kids will receive another $4000.00? Pretty soon, he will be able to quit his job and just raise kids.

This prosperity cheque thing is getting out of hand. The PC party must be looking to set a record for longevity in office.

In the meantime we are still paying medicare premiums and watching our infrastructure crumble away.

Please, please, consider another party when the next election rolls around.

[ivbinconned]

Good to see your neighbour down the road is doing his part in keeping our birth rate up...a good example wilagrow!!!

He won't need the government to take care of him when he gets old...his kids will.

[ivbinconned]

HA.....when we are old and need someone to care for us our kids will be retired in Mexico or Arizona on all the cash they made working in the filthy oil industry, and we will be put to sleep so we aren't a burden to the health care system !!!!!!!

[cakadu]

So, emrald, does this mean that your kids have chosen your retirement home? Love the comment and sorry, I couldn't resist.

It is probably closer to the truth than many of us would like to think.

[cowman]

Well we do own the oil and gas...why shouldn't we get a share? As it stands right now everyone else in Canada gets more from our oil and gas that your average Albertan does!
I'm not a great fan of the Heritage Trust Fund. I'm not a great fan of throwing the loot at the healthcare or education system, especially when we already have the highest paid educators and medical people in Canada...or is that wrong?
Now I am all for building the infrastructure, but isn't there enough money to do that plus give the owners of the resource a few bucks?
I do know I expect royalties on my freehold minerals...why wouldn't I expect something from my collective minerals?
Consider this: The Alberta government collects large amounts of royalty money in the peoples interest? The wino laying in the gutter, or the kid flipping burgers at MacDonalds are all owners and deserve their share? Instead we take their share and go nuts on spending it on two fat cat government industries? Two industries that have a perpetual whine that they need MORE! Always MORE! Klein once asked "How much is enough? Is 50% of Albertas budget enough? Is 60%? Is 70%? How about all of it!"
Give the people their money and they'll get out there and spend it! The doctor already has a BMW and a Mercedes...he doesn't need to add a Ferrari?

[cowman]

I doubt if the kids have chosen my retirement home, they seem to think that I will forge on forever, even though they think I must be bordering on senility to still own cows !!!

If the province is hell bent on sending out more prosperity checks I hope they can do so without having to spend 10 million dollars in all the red tape that went with the last batch.

There are already school boards in Edmonton making a case in the media as to why they think a significant amount of surplus should be spent on infrastructure for education.

If Ralph really wants a legacy he should look into putting and Alaska type rebate in place, and put money aside each year to od it. Or cut out all health care premiums, although I don't neccarily agree with that one.
I think people need to pay something for health care to realize the cost of the system.

Ralph seems to want to do something to leave a lasting legacy, and handing out cash must be his priority.

[cowman]

I agree that medi-care premiums shouldn't be scrapped either. In fact I believe the whole health care system should be funded by medi-care premiums...preferably by Lloyds of London or Mutual of Omaha! Then maybe people would wake up and realize just how much money this bloated ineffective system actually costs them? And in the big picture it might finally sink in that there is no such thing as a free lunch? Never has been...never will be! Some people need to learn that?...again Horse and wilagro? LOL
The Alaska model, or maybe more preferabley the Norway model would be a good one, although you would need safeguards to keep greedy politicians hands out of the till? Can you just imagine if the liberals or, horror of horrors, the NDP ever got into a position of power with a bag of cash sitting there? I suspect it might be like a shark feeding frenzy? Maybe better to just give the loot to the people and let them decide whether they will spend it or save it?

[cowman]

I see that there are many new projects on the drawing board for education in the budget. New hospitals, and commencing twinning the highway to Fort Mac to name a few.
Every penny of the surplus could be spent repairing and enhancing the infrastructure in this province, some of the highways are patched in so many places that you nearly take to the air driving over them at a NORMAL rate of speed.