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I always shake my head at people who think this is a "good" thing, and even more at people who think this is even remotely sustainable. You can't keep an economy going paying people not to work. It may defy your logic but Germany has been the healthiest economy in at least Europe for the past 25 years, even with all the costs of integrating East Germany into their economy.

If you are young, well-paid, healthy and do not run into one of life's bad surprises, you do not need to be looked after by anyone. However, almost all of us are one phone call away from poverty or tragedy. Taxes, if used wisely, are like buying insurance on you, your home or car- you pay the installments and gripe, but hope you never need to call on the benefits. I would rather pay the taxes which subsidize those less fortunate and never draw on the payouts. Did you know that the rich in countries which have socialized medicine live longer than the equally rich in countries (like the US until lately) who do not? The difference is about 3 1/2 years, It would be safe to assume that the rich would have access to the same pay-for-service care in both cases yet the difference is there. We are our brothers' keepers, even if they annoy the heck out of us.

Yes, Norway does tax its citizens at a high rate, but Norweigians get free dental care, fee eye care (including glasses), free psychological care, and two years of free post-secondary education for those who qualify. Moreover, Norwegians rate themselves a the third-happiest people on Earth (the Danes were #1) and as a measure of the health of their society, when neo-Nazi Anders Brevik (who killed 77 people including children) appeared in court, families of the slain appeared in court to ask that Brevik be given psychiatric help rather than a lifetime behind bars. That is a mark of a humane society. Wealth does not equal happiness or mental health. There is evidence to the contrary.

I spent a year in Estevan called July and August in 1990. That town makes Honey Boo-Boo look like Stephen Hawking. I got a buddy who just moved there... Tattoo artist, of all careers.. I have to assume hes pretty much braindead by this point.. Then he's probably joined a cowboy church and is ready to vote for Brad Wall.

"plight" is the wrong word. They play their cards right this could be a real good thing for Alberta in the long run. Hasn't worked in the past. Albertans keep re-electing them, and the best way to ensure bad behaviour continues is to reward it. again you say bad behaviour, but is it really? Us Albertans have a real low tax rate. Why should "good" behaviour from a government include taxing it's population up the ass? I'll say it again, there is a lot of spending required because of the massive population boom, they've been spending that money on the backs of the resource boom rather than taxing the population as heavily. Now that the boom has died down they are looking at increasing the tax load on the population. That seems like a sensible thing. I think too many Manitobans have the Stockholm Syndrome having had so many tax tax tax NDP governments. If you consider how Alberta has undetaxed the oil companies compared to Norway or even Alaska, the differences are staggering. You assume that high taxes are evil and lowest taxes are the most desirable, but I suggest you look at the examples of New Jersey and Kansas compared to the Nordic countries, Germany and France, to name a few. In the European examples, you have social stability,low crime rates, low infant mortality, and longer life spans. In these European countries, you not only have comprehensive health care, but in all but France, they have one-month vacations where the people get an extra month's pay during their vacations. In Kansas and New Jersey, the gospel has been slash all government spending and the economic climate in these two states has gotten so bleak that even the GOP rank and file has begun calling for restoration of services and raising of taxes. Canadians have consistently said in polls over the years that they would prefer higher taxes as opposed to lack of critical services. Compare that to King Ralph Klein who said his aim was to weaken government so much that he could "drown it in a bathtub" .

Probably anal aperture issues.

Much ado about nothing. I suppose that also applies to Saskatchewan.

"plight" is the wrong word. They play their cards right this could be a real good thing for Alberta in the long run. Hasn't worked in the past. Albertans keep re-electing them, and the best way to ensure bad behaviour continues is to reward it.

Randle is 5'7" 190lb and runs a 4.38, so he is built for the CFL. The Vikings saw enough in him to keep him around for two years.

According to my wife, that myth has been disproved. Your wife's just being nice to you. Well, somebody besides the dog should.

All Albertans have to do is ' look in the mirror' and voila..there's the problem according to Jim. Don't mention the fact that the conservative government there has been running the finances forever. Quite a laugher. Maybe not all Albertans - just the ones who kept voting in a Conservative government forever. AlLL Albertans except the corporations. They're exempt from blame. But myself & the rest of my fellow Albertans, we're to blame. Especially those 2 slackers, Noeller & 17to85. They're sucking this province dry. I'm incorporated so technically I'm a corporation and not to blame at all. They will be at your door with pitchforks and torches soon enough.

Even the way right-wing Fraser Institute has turned on Prentiss and Co. after 20 years of rubber-stamping everything the PCs in Alberta and Ottawa have done. The Institute said that the Alberta government has left $106 billion on the table by undertaxing oil production revenue. Further, if Alberta raised their corporate and personal income taxes to match the lowest levels in any other province, they would gather an additional $5-6 billion, but that is not the Alberta way. Gotta pay for Redford's Retreat somehow. BTW, the former leader of the Wild Rose Party asked for a cabinet seat as her 30 pieces of silver.

Not an "F" for screwed?

But all the financial problems Alberta faces are the fault of the people who live there...according to Mr. Prentiss. It is only coincidence that Alaska has 106 billion dollars in their heritage fund and Norway 450 billion. Not the fault of the party which has been governing Alberta for some 70 years.

According to my wife, that myth has been disproved.

At the end of the season, this will matter because.....

The trick they use is to give money for "infrastructure"- roads, sewers and so forth. It is pure coincidence that these infrastructure projects happen to be in the immediate vicinity of sports venues. It also happened with the Senators' arena in Kanata- several tens of millions of dollars were granted by the federal Liberals (I believe).

A federal election is coming up this year, so a lot of promises will be made, and some may actually be kept, so who knows? The last federal election, the Tories promised funding for a new arena in Quebec City, so maybe, just maybe.... I don't remember the federal Conservatives ever saying they would give funding to an arena in QC. They've been quite adamant that federal funding will not go to facilities whose main occupant would be a pro team for a number of years. I believe it was during the 2011 election when the chair of the Quebec conservative caucus was in a tough fight for a seat and made the announcement. It was not offical election policy but was never confirmed or denied by Harper. I recall it because I won a fifty dollar bet with my brother over it.

A federal election is coming up this year, so a lot of promises will be made, and some may actually be kept, so who knows? The last federal election, the Tories promised funding for a new arena in Quebec City, so maybe, just maybe....

The building inspectors in Calgary (and probably Alberta) are spread very thin. Friends of ours bought a brand-new expensive home in the Evergreen area of Calgary. They soon noticed that the dryer wasn"t working properly, so Bob followed the dryer vent duct all the way up to the attic. He was stunned to see that the duct was not connected to any vent, but just dumped onto the insulation, lying there pumping all the dryer moisture into the attic. Bob called the city inspector who told him to call the builder who told him to call the mechanical contractor who told him to call the new home warranty program and no one accepted responsibility or offered to fix it. The building inspector told Bob that they had 20 minutes to inspect every home, and that included travel time. Bob eventually gave up in disgust and put his own vent cap in. He went up the street and told all his neighbours- every one of the 21 other homes had the same deficiency and none were fixed by the builder.

Since the return of the Alouettes, there has been a revival of interest in the CFL, both as a spectator sport and it seems like there are lot of good players coming out of La Belle Province, so promoting the CFL in Quebec City is a very smart move.

We could use a variation of Apu's slogan: "Now almost 90% life-threatening problem free". Anyways, we should all be grateful for this hitting the fan now- what would we have to kvetch about otherwise?

I agree. If he keeps this up he may wake up one day and find himself writing a sports column at the Sun. Hey, now. That's hitting way below the belt. Have pity.

The general contractor, architect and engineering firm are all national companies. They are forced to hire unionized workers, regardless of who the best trade for the job may be. Funny, I always thought that whether you are unionized or not, you still had to pass the same standards to be qualified as a journeyman. Ooops. Sorry. More logic. Have to pass the same standards yes. Union labour is not unqualified labour. If you are going to make an argument against unionized labour it would be that it generally costs more and is less productive. If you are forced to hire unionized workers then you can only hire out of union shops. That takes many very good companies out of play as options for subcontracting. It narrows down and limits options and effects cost control. That's just straight up logic for you. When cost control is effected, so too will the final product. Your logic is flawed. You are positing that the lowest labour cost determines the best quality and the lowest overall cost- that is not a given under any circumstances. In most cases, the wages will be the same for a similarly qualified tradesman because a journeyman will take his/her talents elsewhere if inderpaid. You are also assuming (probably falsely) that the issues with the stadium are due to poor workmanship, and nowhere is that categorically stated- the issues appear to be poor design, and that comes out of the non-union offices of the architect and engineering firms. Moreover, the supervision on the site would have been the purview of the construction mangers, and I would bet they are also non-union. Being unionized is no guarantee of good results, but neither is is being non-unuon.

The general contractor, architect and engineering firm are all national companies. They are forced to hire unionized workers, regardless of who the best trade for the job may be. Funny, I always thought that whether you are unionized or not, you still had to pass the same standards to be qualified as a journeyman. Ooops. Sorry. More logic.