Some are voting “No” to the 10 questions.

That seems so negative. I am going to vote “Yes” on the last 9 and am leaning toward “Answer #2” on the first question. Answer #2 says, “Yes,” I want a referendum.

I want to start a serious conversation with the rest of Canada. And I want my negotiating team to have the moral weight behind them so that the people on the other side of the table, including Ottawa and any Province that is not onside, to understand that many Albertans would not join Canada under the deal on the table, so why would we stay?

Establishing our own plan is a clear provincial right. The transition wouldn’t be difficult; we could either keep the federal administration while segregating and investing our own funds, or go all-in with a completely independent provincial system.

Either route yields immediate economic benefits. Thanks to Alberta’s demographic advantages, we could increase payouts while lowering contribution rates. More importantly, it proves we can manage our own affairs and act like a mature province.

Additionally, it signals to Ottawa and Eastern Canada that Alberta is an equal partner in Confederation, not just a resource to be exploited. If Quebec can successfully run the Quebec Pension Plan, Alberta can do the same.

An Alberta Pension Plan is legal, feasible, beneficial, and a vital assertion of our autonomy.

This is low-hanging fruit, and it is ripe for the picking.

Alberta has a clear, legal pathway to establish its own provincial police force. By providing formal notice under our current contract with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)—which currently oversees policing in our rural and small-town communities—we can initiate a structured, manageable transition. We will have ample time to adjust, beginning with a standing offer of employment to every dedicated RCMP officer currently serving on Alberta soil.

The reasons for this shift are both legion and undeniable.

1. A Failure of Federal Management

First, the national force’s overarching administration has proven itself fundamentally dysfunctional. This is not a reflection on the front-line officers who risk their lives daily, but rather a condemnation of a bloated federal bureaucracy. To borrow a phrase often attributed to Albert Einstein, the management in Ottawa is “so bad, it is not even wrong.” The serial errors of judgment originating from national headquarters are so frequent and systemic that the entire administrative apparatus has lost its credibility.

2. Broken Institutional Incentives

The current structural incentives of the RCMP actively work against Albertans. Under the federal framework, any ambitious member seeking advancement must look to Ottawa, with bilingualism as a mandatory prerequisite. Consequently, ambitious officers are incentivized to focus on federal optics rather than the distinct needs of the local Alberta communities where they are temporarily stationed. They are forced to look East for career progression, rather than looking at the neighborhood they are paid to protect.

3. A Commitment to Community

Let us move past this outdated model. By expanding the existing Alberta Sheriffs branch into a full-fledged provincial police force, we can recruit, train, and retain professionals who actually want to live in Alberta and serve our communities long-term.

It is time for Alberta to step up, govern ourselves like a mature, self-reliant province, and take this common-sense step to rebalance our relationship with Ottawa.

We have moved back to Calgary, but lived in Victoria, British Columbia, for a time.

Every day in Victoria, you can see signs that demand, “Everyone Deserves A Family Doctor.”

I wonder whether the people who plant them have considered who will meet this demand and how. Are family doctors slaves to the good people of Victoria? Are other provinces to forgo their family doctors and send them to Victoria? Are the costs of this demand to be borne by the people who put up the sign?

March 29 was the anniversary of the death of Ralph Klein. 

Boy Howdy how I miss him.  The most amazing and surprising Premier Alberta has ever had. 

Our Prime Minister needs the Serenity Prayer.

God, grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Our current Prime Minister is leading a country in tatters.  We are broken as a direct result of the previous administration.  He, and we, are in no position to lecture or lead anything on the world stage.  We have no military, declining economic performance metrics, social unrest manifested in antisemitic traffic snarling parades, weak health and wellness indicators and falling education metrics.

He and his Laurentian friends need to understand what they must accept and what they can change.  And for this, they need the wisdom to know the difference.  They cannot change the world order, lead middle powers or even serve as an example to follow.  They can start an overhaul of our tax code, cut regulations, get out of the way of Canadians and generally follow the prescriptions that Pierre Poilievre has been preaching for several years.

Mr. Carney, the Serenity Prayer is yours for the taking.  There is no copyright on it, use it freely.

Perhaps we should aspire to a new Alberta Pension Plan that I could opt into. This change would allow me to request that all the capital I am entitled to under the Canada Pension Plan be transferred to the Alberta Pension Plan, and that all future contributions be made to my APP account. All benefits would come from the APP, not CPP.

This would allow a person-by-person migration.

That opt in process would create pension plan competition, and competition is never a bad thing. And it would allow an APP to develop and grow organically over time.

Plus, Albertans who opt in would realize the demographic savings we are entitled to receive. We might even increase benefits to seniors, again capitalizing on our Alberta demographic advantage.

Some might argue that it would involve duplicating costs. There might be a partial duplication, but it would be worth it. Choice and comparability would bring the virtues of competition: lower risk, higher returns and capturing the Alberta demographic advantage.

Alberta Pension Plan

Why is this such a hard question?

This is the anniversary of the Firewall letter.

Of all the ideas in the 2001 Firewall Letter, the Alberta Pension Plan is the biggest and best. And it is the easiest to complete.

When we met with Ralph Klein to discuss the idea of an Alberta Pension Plan, Finance had one objection presented against an Alberta Pension, they said, “The benefits to Albertan businesses and taxpayers over other provinces would be so great that companies and people would demand to move to Alberta and the number of new Albertans would strain our infrastructure.”

Two thoughts occurred to me. First, I had underestimated the immediate financial value of imitating Quebec and running our own pension plan. The Finance experts thought it would be much more advantageous.

Second, what the Department of Finance officials feared sounded like a great problem to have. We would attract more people, industry and business.

Alberta demographics are so different from the rest of Canada that what we get as a payout from our contributions is much less important than what we have to pay in the future. If we got a fraction of what we are entitled to and held pension contributions at the same level, we could payout much more in benefits.

So it all seemed to make sense, but the people would not support it, for reasons none of us understood, and still don’t understand.

Carney went from elbows up to knees down, not once but twice. For Trump and Xi. Same reversal of course that would give anyone but a Liberal hospital level whiplash.

Carney’s policy reversals rival that of Trudeau, the Pierre, who, when elected on a platform promising no wage and price controls, launched price and wage controls within weeks of winning.

In this crowd, the only consistency is inconsistency.

Calgary is having water problems, the legacy of Nenshi.

But we finally have a Mayor who is treating Calgarians like adults.  No snitch lines, no enforcement police. 

But I see so many clean cars going through the car wash, the owners oblivious to the obvious.  Come on, folks, you are being treated like an adult, behave like one.

The dirty cars are a mark of maturity.  The clean ones, not so much.