Senator Gold: Thank you for your question. The exemption does currently exist in Alberta in the same terms as we find in The Saskatchewan Act. There is also an exemption in Manitoba in slightly different terms because Manitoba was already a province by the time that the arrangement was made with Canadian Pacific Railway. To date, neither the Province of Manitoba nor the Province of Alberta has approached the Government of Canada with an indication that they want to proceed as Saskatchewan has done.

Hon. Paula Simons: May I ask you, Senator Gold, to speak more as a former professor than as the government representative? Alberta and Saskatchewan entered Confederation at the same time under very similar legal frameworks. The railroad, of course, also runs through Alberta. I’m just curious, did this exemption ever exist in Alberta? Does it still exist in Alberta? If it doesn’t exist anymore, at what point, do you know, was it changed in my province?

Hon. Pamela Wallin: I wanted to ask you, Senator Gold, if you wanted to speak briefly to the fact that the lobbying around this issue has been going on for the entire 20th century and into the 21st, and that Alberta and Manitoba were very much a part of that effort to end this constitutionalized tax, and that what has really provoked all of this and prompted this more current discussion is a decision rendered by the Federal Court in September 2021. That is what has brought this issue to the fore again in an urgent way.

Senator Simons: I’m taken aback that Alberta would not have proceeded in the same direction. That is very interesting and curious information. Thank you very much.

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