... weather's good there for windfalls! One of my kids spent 6 months working in Banff last year. Yesterday there was a cheque in the mailbox for him, from the gov't of Alberta. He had no idea what he'd done to merit the extra $$$, and as we read the back of the cheque with our jaws fell open ...

Dear Albertan: Enclosed is your Alberta 2005 Resource Rebate. This $400 per person rebate is being provided by the Government of Alberta as a non-taxable, one-time bonus to all Albertans in recognition of their role in building this province. Funds for this rebate are from part of this year's provincial surplus, the rest of which will be saved or invested to build Alberta's future. For more information on the rebate, please visit www.gov.ab.ca.

Congratulations, and thank you for helping build this province.

From,

Premier Ralph Klein

??!!??    $400 for every resident, just for breathing? "Provincial surplus"? "Thank you for helping build this province?"   Holy Hosers, I say! And they don't even pay PST in Alberta!

Now I KNOW I've been livin in the wrong province! Here in Ontario, the only "gifts" the provincial gov't gives out (as we pay out 7% PST on everything we buy) are increased taxes and decreased public services. I guess oil must really make a difference. I'll remember that, as I fork out $1.10/litre at the pumps today. At least my hard-earned dollars are helping give Albertans a break! That oughta make me feel a bit better ...

But not much. This is a democracy after all! All for one and one for all, I thought. Ontario has a much bigger population than Alberta, and we are every last flippin bit as commendable too. We really deserve that bonus. Or several! For instance, most of us are immigrants and couldn't understand each other if our lives depended on it. Plus that, we are oil-deprived. See? Our needs are much greater than Alberta's!

So, I wanna see a $1000 cheque for every Ontarian, in recognition and appreciation of our ongoing contributions to the growth and prosperity of this great province. Get to it, McGuinty!!! Or I'll be buyin me a Stetson, buckin up me bronco and riding out under those big big BIG prairie skies, never to return!