My Speeches

Alberta Capital Bonds

Posted on Nov 03, 2009

The Deputy Speaker: The hon. Member for Battle River-Wainwright.

Mr. Griffiths: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, I’ve heard
quite a bit of discussion over this motion that talks about how much
the interest rate should be and how the bonds should be issued.
Quite frankly, I’m not the financial expert that can best decide how
that works, so I’m rather indifferent to the way the operation sets up.
To me the most important principle we have here is the bonds
themselves and the fact that Albertans can buy into Alberta’s future.
I’m going to start off by making it very clear to everyone here and
anybody who might be listening that I hate debt. I abhor debt for the
provincial government, absolutely. When we eliminated the debt
and we had surplus dollars, I wasn’t even a very big fan of the $400
cheques that went out to Albertans sort of as a dividend to Albertans.
Quite frankly, rather than see a cheque go out, we could have issued
bonds then. Albertans could have bought bonds from the Alberta
government and earned interest on that.
The reason why, Mr. Speaker, is that Alberta is owned by
Albertans. It’s ours. It’s not as though Alberta itself is a separate
entity, and Albertans just participate in the greatness of Alberta.
They own it. It’s theirs. They own the schools and the hospitals and
the roads. They own the trees and the forest and the oil. It’s theirs.
That’s because in the last hundred years it has been built by
Albertans, by people who moved here a hundred years ago from far- off
lands, came here with a sense of adventure and actually built this
province out of absolutely nothing. You know the old image of the
settlers coming here and building houses out of timber raw off the
land. They owned the Alberta that they built, and we still own it
today. I think that by issuing bonds, it’s an opportunity to help still
give the notion to people or maybe reinvigorate the notion for
Albertans that they own Alberta. They own this province.
I know I’m far too young to have experienced the idea of war
bonds or victory bonds, Mr. Speaker. I don’t know if I have this
false sense of nostalgia or where it came from. Maybe it’s watching
too many old movies or something. But I remember the posters
about war bonds and victory bonds and the discussion that people
had. They bought war bonds, which were called victory bonds,
because they bought into the victory that was supposed to come
during the war. It was up to them. There was this notion. Again,
maybe I’m confusing it with nostalgia, but it seems to me that people
of the day bought victory bonds not because they were going to get
8 per cent interest or 6 per cent interest or it was going to be a better
deal than over here; they bought them because they were buying into
the notion that they had to help with the victory. Maybe they
weren’t over fighting on the front lines and helping people in
hospitals, but they were responsible if their nation was going to be
victorious in war.
To me these bonds that we’re talking about, the capital bonds, are
like that. Maybe one of the most unfortunate things, if I was going
to complain about anything to do with these bonds, is that they’re
called capital bonds. That’s the most unsexy term you could ever
come up with. It means bricks and mortar.

Mr. Lukaszuk: You want to call them Lukaszuk bonds? James
bonds?

Mr. Griffiths: No, but we could call them legacy bonds or something
like that that gives the notion that when Albertans are buying
these bonds, they’re buying into building Alberta’s future, not just
buying bricks and mortar that we’re going to use but actually buying
into the future of this province. I hope we come up with a better
term. I’m not particularly keen on the James bonds. Something like
legacy bonds, I think, would give the notion to Albertans that they’re
buying into the future of Alberta. It’s their responsibility because
they have ownership of this province. They don’t just take whatever
the government gives them or the way things operate; they’re
responsible for helping to build it as well.
All Albertans have a responsibility for that. I know I’m bound to
get heckled a little bit because it’s a Democrat in the U.S. I’m about
to cite, but I finally came to understand what JFK’s words meant
when he said, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what
you can do for your country.”
I give a speech all over the place, and when I give the speech
about how to make your community successful, I actually look the
audience right in the eye, and I tell them: Albertans are spoiled. All
western Canadians are spoiled. Canada, North Americans are
spoiled. We seem to have this sense of entitlement that gets stronger
and stronger every day. What am I going to get from the government?
What am I going to get from this program? Who’s going to
give it to me now? Where am I going to get this from? There’s
always the what’s in it for me factor.
Western Canada wasn’t built by people who came over here and
said: “What are you going to do for me? What are you going to
build for me? What’s in it for me?” They came over here and said:
“What am I going to do to help build for the next generation and the
generation after that and the one after that?” They asked: “What can
I give?”The notion behind these bonds is not – it’s irrelevant, quite
frankly, whether we get 3 per cent or 5 per cent or 8 per cent or it’s
a better investment over here. I bet that when the majority of
Albertans – hopefully it’s something more like legacy bonds, not
capital bonds – get the opportunity to own a piece of Alberta, it
doesn’t have to be a building where they say: “I own that one.”
Knowing that they’re helping Alberta get through a tough time, the
Alberta that they own, might leave them a little bit inspired to say:
“Wait a second. This is my responsibility. This is something I can
help contribute to.” I think that does more to help build a sense of
pride, a sense of nationalism, a sense of community, which sometimes
I think a lot of jurisdictions around the world, sometimes ours
included, lack when we get the what’s in it for me mentality. It
divides us and doesn’t pull us together with unity.
See, I don’t know if the guidelines are going to allow this or not,
but I really would like the opportunity to buy some Alberta bonds
for my sons so that regardless of how long they hold them, when
they do cash them in, they see that they owned a piece of Alberta
and they helped drive it through some tough times, that they helped
create the Alberta that they’re going to enjoy. The bond doesn’t
have to be particularly assigned to a university building that they’ll
attend. It doesn’t matter. They own a piece of Alberta. They’re
contributors to Alberta. They’re Albertans that own Alberta. I don’t
know. I just think that it would help also instill in them as they grow
up a sense of ownership about the future success of this province.
You know what? The future success of this province isn’t going
to depend on the policies of that party or this party or that party or
this government. It’s going to depend on 3 and a half million
Albertans that decide that this is not a big deal, this little dip in the
economy. This is not going to be the end of us. This is just a new
beginning, and we have incredible opportunities to fix it ourselves,
as 3 and a half million Albertans, together, united. These Alberta
bonds are the perfect opportunity to give ownership and responsibility
to each of those Albertans.
I fully support this, and I encourage everyone in this House to as
well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.