Quebecers would rather Import Oil than allow Alberta to build a Pipeline That Runs Through There, here’s why – December 17, 2018,
A lot of people still don’t understand why Quebecers behave the way they do in regards to energy. The first thing to understand about Quebec is that almost 100% of its electricity comes from renewable sources, now by renewable sources I’m not talking about solar and wind, instead, I’m talking about Hydro-electric power. Because of this Quebecers often have bragging rights about the effectiveness of government, the problem with this however is that Quebec as it stands now, isn’t in a position where it can realistically grow, which is why it’s considered a have not province, every industry in Quebec that could be socialized has been socialized, every area of their economy that can be taxed, has been taxed and stubbornness in Quebec about economic change isn’t realistic for the foreseeable future.
When you’re talking about supply management, you’re actually talking about Quebec, you’ll often read about me writing about Crown Corporations, well nobody does Crown Corporations like Quebec. Click the link below to get a very real-world understanding of how many Crown Corporations there are in Quebec, one, of course, being Hydro-Québec.
To put Quebec in its proper context, if Quebec was a nation, it would be bankrupt within 5 years, it would probably experience constant hyper-inflation of its currency, similar to now, it would experience a lot of growth-related problems, and chances it would resemble Argentina. Whenever I look at Quebec’s economy Argentina comes to mind. The problem with Argentina is that their public sector is around 35% of their economy, what this means is that if I as a private investor invested in Argentina, I’d lose 35% of my capital the moment I invested in Argentina so if I invested $1 into Argentina automatically I’d be left with $0.65 Cents, now this is before taxes, so taxes would consume another portion of my money and I’d if I expected to make a profit I’d have to wait a long time and hope that other investor would be stupid enough to invest in Argentina also, pray that the Argentine peso doesn’t collapse or pray that projected growth numbers occur as planned.
Government employees do not work for free, Employees of Crown Corporations don’t work for free, Government workers tend to have higher pay than their private sector equivalents, they tend to work less than their private sector equivalents, they tend to have more benefits than their private sector equivalents and they’re also more protected than their private sector equivalents, by protected I mean if they run into financial hardships they’ll usually get a Government bailout, if they’re a Crown Corporation typically those bailouts will be hidden in raising their costs and passing them off to either their customers or the taxpayers.
To better understand what I mean, Canada Post is a Crown Corporation and what’s interesting about Canada Post is that it’s cheaper to send a parcel from the U.S into Canada than it is for Canadian to mail the exact same parcel within Canada. This happens primarily because in the United States their United States Postal Service(USPS) has to be competitive with its Private Sector competitor UPS, whereas Canada Post via legislation of becoming a Federal Crown Corporation doesn’t have any competitor to measure itself up against, which is why Canada Posts pricing is based on a number that allows it to be profitable for its employees at the expense of the people and customers it serves.
Now, why I write this is because image Canada Post multiplied by about 10 different important sectors of their economy. This would make 10+ sectors of their economy non-competitive, now again I haven’t even written about their public sectors yet, I’m strictly talking about Crown Corporations, the Quebec public sector in Quebec is conservatively 27%.
Public sector employment ‘may have gone too far’ in Quebec – Globe and Mail
Now, why I bring this up is the type of atmosphere and culture big government brings with it, the perceptions of the population often become unrealistic, they’ll often forget how wealth is generated and assume that the government has a magic level that makes everything right. As an example, President of France Emmanuel Macron recently had an uprising because his carbon pricing tax scheme didn’t go as planned, but one of the funniest things that happened when the protestors made their demands, as they asked for a minimum wage hike? Meaning they asked the government to take more money from the Private Sector so they could get a pay raise.
Now, if you don’t see the hypocrisy in that, then it will be hard for you to see what would happen if in today’s world Quebec decided to leave Canada. A few numbers readers might want to know from Quebec’s Imported oil most of it comes from Algeria (28.1%), the United Kingdom (16.1%) and the Atlantic provinces (11.9%), now this is actually one of the contributing factors to why their energy economy is can’t really grow. They’d rather support foreigners than allowing Alberta access to their province and this type of thinking is a result of their government programs appearing to work for them.
Now, what I mean by that is, Quebec isn’t a have not Province, their citizens enjoy a great quality of life by global standards, but make no mistake about it, what they’re benefiting most from are Equalization payments, which is the have provinces giving money to the have not provinces, so in reality Quebec is being rewarded for having an inefficiently run economy. Now, if Quebec was as an example using their own currency, based on their huge public sector 27% in which I excluded their provincially protected industries their public sector would be around 40% which would equate to nobody wanting to invest in them.
What’s actually happened to Quebec and this typically happens in socialist countries is their well has run dry. ow, they’re really a burden on Canada, they’re the biggest burden on Canada, which means if they have renewed calls for separation from Canada, especially with this Alberta Pipeline Problem, chances are Canada might simply cut its losses with Quebec. In reality, it would be a net benefit for Canada to let Quebec go. I say this mainly because I’m beginning to see unrest in Canada, now I’m not sure if Trudeau is going to win his re-election bid, but if he does one thing I can guarantee is that Canada will be more divided than ever if Trudeau gets a second term.
In 1995 the Quebec independence referendum was basically a 50/50 split on whether to stay or go in modern Canada especially if things get really bad, I could imagine that this topic could arise yet again, however this time, being that the facts are out and the demographics of Canada have changed, there’s a very real possibility that Quebec might leave and if Quebec leaves Justin Trudeau will definitely see his last term and this could be the event that changes Canada’s history. The last really bad Prime Minister Canada had was Brian Mulroney, I’d put Justin Trudeau up there with him, however, what might get Trudeau a second term is Scheer’s ineptness and the fear of Canada trusting Maxime Bernier or NDP leader Jagmeet Singh to run the country.
The frustration in Alberta is a very real thing and it’s spilling into other Provinces, because in case people forgot a lot of people from other provinces are heavily dependent on Alberta being productive, Alberta having jobs, Alberta being our energy leader, once this frustration reaches a tipping point a boiling over point, Canada will undergo change, I again am not sure what’s going to happen during this coming election, but I do believe there’s a chance Trudeau could win a minority government, the problem is, it’s already too late, if Trudeau wins and the realization hits Albertans and Canadians that they have to see and deal with this smug arrogant Prime minister and his indecisiveness with the economy for another 3 years well, watch out Canada!
Interesting times ahead.