I kind of agree with the separatists on one thing: Alberta would be far better off if it weren't for all these unfair transfer payments…to oil companies.

Every year we transfer billions of dollars to wealthy investors by not charging them what our oil is worth, because of our ridiculously low royalty rates. That's our money they are pocketing

We transfer more wealth to those rich oilmen by paying for the roads their companies rely on, the education and health care of their workers, and the emergency services that keep their operations safe. Because of ridiculously low corporate tax rates, we end up subsidizing them for all those services. That's our money subsidizing them

When they walk away from unpaid taxes or abandoned wells or toxic spills, our government passes those costs on to the rest of us. Also ridiculous. Also our money paying for their delinquency.

So I agree that it's time to demand fairness and to stop transferring our money... to oil companies.

We pay exactly the same tax rates to Ottawa as everyone else in Canada, but our Alberta government keeps us poor by transferring our Alberta wealth to their corporate friends. And then they tell us to blame Ottawa.

There should be a third option on this fall's referendum question:

"Alberta should stay in Canada and finally start acting like owners of our own resources, by ending transfer payments to wealthy oilmen. And it should be unlawful to blame others for made-in-Alberta failures."