Alberta, Economic and Political. IV. The Elliott-Walker Report: A Rejoinder

Extract

The Report to the Alberta Bondholders' Committee is not, and was not intended to be, a report upon the economic and social conditions of that province, and it contains no recommendations for settlement of present-day problems. It is a report upon the fiscal problems of the provincial government, which have their origin in economic and social conditions generally common to the Prairie Provinces, as well as in a cleavage of financial philosophies most apparent in Alberta alone. Had the survey been broadened to require a report on the income, wealth, and indebtedness of the province and its people, we have no doubt that some of the criticisms expressed by Messrs. MacGregor and Britnell would be justified—but the investigators would still be investigating and the Report would not yet be written.

As it is, the Report was completed in thirty days. Not a figure (except one table relating to the domicile of Canadian bonds) has any other source than the published data of the Dominion Bureau of Statistics or of the provinces. No statement of fact relating to the present fiscal position of Alberta has any other origin than the published documents or the transcribed words of officials of that province. Only on such a basis could an impartial yet sympathetic study of this important Canadian problem proceed.