Staggering high school drop out rate

[Chewycorns]

[quote=“Jaboney”]

Just out of curiosity, could you reconcile these two statements for me? I don’t want to get you wrong. [/quote]

@Chewycorns

I think it is normal for certain types of people to drop out of school to work when there is a huge boom. These people are often walking into 20 or 30 dollar an hour jobs. If the economy weakens significantly, you’ll be seeing many of these workers returning to school for skills upgrading. In Alberta, the economy is so much stronger than other places in Canada (better than most American states even in terms of GDP per capita), many students are probably anxious to get out in the “real world” and make good coin. Of course, I think they are thinking only about the short term and it would make sense for them to complete high school (as insurance for when the economy slows or as a building block to something better).

[quote="[url=The ridiculous legacy of the Bush (II) administration - #73 by Chewycorns I don’t think some provinces would appreciate what is basically another type of National Energy Program mandated from Ottawa, particularly in these uncertain economic times. Such a program could hurt the economies of Alberta and Newfoundland (oil), and Saskatchewan (coal etc.).[/quote]

Sure. I don’t think anyone can deny that the economy of Alberta has been red hot. In terms of GDP per capita, Alberta is far above the other provinces (with the exception of the NWT).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ca … ic_product

However, anyone who has lived in Alberta during the early 80s remembers the bust that resulted from low oil prices and Trudeau’s statist and redistributive NEP. With housing starts down and employment growth slowing (a measure of uncertainty wouldn’t you say?), I think it would be safe to say the economy is slowing although things are still generally moving forward (3 percent growth vs. 6 percent last year). Would imposing a federal tax at such a time make good economic sense in your opinion? I certainly don’t think it would and don’t think Harper would risk implementing one.