Alberta Conservative Party Soul-Searching

By Keith Edmund White
Editor-in-Chief

A quick news-blurb and short primer on the fascinating party politics of Canada, which should stir the interests of U.S. political watchers--not to mention political comparativists.

The National Post reports on a Alberta Conservative Party motion to strip federal MPs of automatic voting privileges at provincial party meetings.

Why the intra-party tension? Well, in Alberta, while the Progressive Conservatives still run the Legislative Assembly, the official opposition is the Wildrose Alliance Party. And what does the charismatic leader of the Wildrose Party have to say about the Progressive Conservative Party:

[Danielle] Smith said the motion on federal Tory voting privileges is “reflecting the reality that there a lot of federal Conservative MPs who are conflicted about which party is the true voice of conservatism (in Alberta).”  [Source:  The National Post]

Mount Royal University professor Duane Bratt explains the distance between the federal Progressive Conservative Party, which now leads Canada's national government under Prime Minister Harper, and the provincial Progressive Conservative Progress of Alberta, which still leads the right-leaning province, but with some significant heartburn:

"So my sense is that a majority of Albertans, perhaps even a larger majority of Albertans, don't like the policies that Wildrose is promising, but it doesn't matter, because they want to throw the Conservatives out of office and they have a nice, likable, smart woman leading their party." [Source:  CBC News]

Is Income-Based Repayment Obama's Stand-In for a Student Loan Bail Out? And Is it Smart Policy?

By Keith Edmund White

Editor-in Chief

Last week, CUSLI-Nexus Senior Editor Justin McNeil explored the provocative differences between the discharge of student loan debt in Canada and the United States. But is the White House using Income-Based Repayment as a stand in for bailing out those burdened with student loan debt?

Today the New America Foundation releases Safety Net or Windfall?, a report looking at soon-to-be finalized regulatory changes to 2010 legislation that reformed the Income-Based Repayment plan for federal student loans. 

The attention-getting talking point:

But contrary to benefitting [sic] low-income borrowers, the pending changes to IBR will actually provide generous benefits to borrowers with higher federal loan balances – those with graduate or professional degrees. A borrower with an MBA or a law degree can easily have a six-figure loan balance forgiven, even if his income exceeds $100,000 for much of his repayment term. 

And let’s not forget the U.S. fiscal backdrop all U.S. domestic spending (or in this case, forgiveness of federally issued debt) faces: With U.S. law-makers facing a fiscal crisis, any changes to student-loan repayment plans—especially those made in the executive branch via regulation—can’t be considered permanent.

So this brings us back to Justin’s piece:  Should U.S. law-makers, at the very least, revisit the legal rules for students looking to discharge their student debt?

Finally, here's a July 2011 article (updated in Sept. 2012) from The Globe and Mail about Canada's  growing difficulties with student debt.

Snap Shot: The Coming and Going of Canada's Federal Revenues

Source:  Your Tax Dollar, Department of Finance Canada, 2011