Madam Speaker, I will begin by saying I am officially not running for the leadership of my party. I am open to caucus chair.
I could repeat that in French if necessary, but I will not.
The member brings up the crux of the issue. When I was door knocking in the past election the most important matter for my constituents, consistently on every street, was equalization. It did not matter if they were seniors, young people, people who were employed or unemployed. They were bringing up the issue of equalization as an issue of fairness.
Alberta has not collected equalization in any way since 1965. We have been a net contributor of over $600 billion, and Albertans are tired of the situation where we are told we are not allowed to create the wealth that then is expected to be shared. We do not have a problem with sharing, but do not stand in the way of our ability to create the wealth in the first place.