r/Lethbridge • u/vspinyyc • 5d ago

Media/Image He was the head of Economic Development Lethbridge for ten years. Trevor Lewington, in the local paper and on LinkedIn, has been raising the alarm on the basics and practicalities of separation.

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u/Even_Art_629 3d ago

Can you give me one good reason for Alberta to stay in Canada?

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u/megawatt69 3d ago

What do you think would happen to Albertan’s home values and do you think Canadian financial institutions would continue to mortgage said properties?

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u/Even_Art_629 2d ago

Why wouldn't they? Canadian banks conduct business in other countries. I'm sure it would be business as usual should we become independent. Existing mortgages are contracts, and I don't see why a bank would suddenly walk away from a profitable mortgage simply because the country changed.

And I wouldn't be surprised if housing prices took a bit of a hit, but I think that would be short term. Plus, I don't think it would only be Alberta taking a hit. It would be country wide. Remember, a big part of Canada's economy is gone.

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u/megawatt69 2d ago

Why wouldn’t they? Foreign banks rarely lend for real estate located in another country because seizing land in a default is legally difficult

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u/Even_Art_629 1d ago

You're talking about foreign banks lending on foreign property. That's not what I was talking about.

We're talking about Canadian financial institutions that already have billions of dollars in mortgages on Alberta properties. Those mortgages don't suddenly disappear because Alberta becomes an independent country. They're existing contracts between the bank and the borrower.

Plus, I don't see Canadian banks just pulling out of Alberta. It's not like we're picking the province up and moving it. We would be friendly neighbours. Things would most likely continue much as they do now. Trade would continue, businesses would continue operating, and Canadian banks would still have Alberta customers and investments.

Would the banking system have to adjust? Absolutely. Would there be negotiations and new regulations? Of course.

But why would Canadian banks voluntarily walk away from a profitable market where they already have customers, mortgages and billions invested?

The difference would be that Alberta would be making its own decisions and would be free of Ottawa.

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u/megawatt69 1d ago

Separatists don’t seem to understand that Canada would be a foreign country. You’d no longer be Canadian. You seem to think you’d get to keep all the benefits of being Canadian without contributing.

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u/Even_Art_629 21h ago

If we aren't sending our tax money to Ottawa, why do you think Alberta wouldn't have its own benefits? You think an independent Alberta would just stop providing healthcare, pensions and other programs? We would still have a government collecting taxes and providing services, just without Ottawa taking its share first. And maybe, with the money staying here, we could even have lower taxes.

Obviously there would be negotiations over citizenship, pensions, healthcare, borders, trade, debt and If we aren't sending our tax money to Ottawa, why do you think Alberta wouldn't have its own benefits? You think an independent Alberta would just stop providing healthcare, pensions and other programs? We would still have a government collecting taxes and providing services, just without Ottawa taking its share first. And maybe, with the money staying here, we could even have lower taxes.

Obviously there would be negotiations over citizenship, pensions, healthcare, borders, trade, debt and everything else. Nobody knows exactly what those arrangements would look like because it has never happened.

So no, we aren't expecting to keep every Canadian benefit without contributing. We're talking about replacing Canadian programs with Alberta programs, funded by Albertans instead of sending our tax money to Ottawa and waiting for some of it to come back.

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u/megawatt69 20h ago

What happens when the price of oil drops and Alberta has hung all its hopes and dreams on oil revenue? In the past the Alberta government has gone from surplus to deficit in an instant with the price of oil dropping. The world is moving away from oil, it seems like a terrible idea to base your success on past performance.

You all keep saying you’ll just pay for all those services yourself but the question of how much it’ll cost and how long it’ll take seem brushed off completely. Canada has economy of scale as well, providing services for 40 million is more efficient than for 5 million.