Alberta's Prosperity Bonus, nicknamed Ralph bucks after then-premier

Ralph Klein Ralph Philip Klein (November 1, 1942 – March 29, 2013) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 12th premier of Alberta and leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta from 1992 until his retirement in 20 ...

, was a one-time $400 payment paid out to almost 3 million Albertan residents in 2006. The

Government of Alberta The government of Alberta (french: gouvernement de l'Alberta) is the body responsible for the administration of the Canadian province of Alberta. As a constitutional monarchy, the Crown—represented in the province by the lieutenant governor—is ...

paid a

dividend A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, it is able to pay a portion of the profit as a dividend to shareholders. Any amount not distributed is taken to be re-i ...

to residents of

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

due to a massive oil-fuelled provincial budget surplus.

Background - 2004 general election

Notice for Klein's prosperity bonus would come less than a year following the

2004 Alberta general election The 2004 Alberta general election was held on November 22, 2004 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The election was called on October 25, 2004. Premier Ralph Klein decided to go to the polls earlier than the legislated dead ...

which saw the

Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta (often referred to colloquially as Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta) was a provincial centre-right party in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta that e ...

elected for the tenth consecutive majority government, and Klein continuing as Premier for the fourth straight term. Despite retaining power in Alberta, the election revealed weakness in the popularity of Premier Klein and the Progressive Conservative Party. Their share of the popular vote dropped from 61.9% in 2001 to 46.8%.

Prosperity bonus announcement

In September 2005,

Alberta Premier The premier of Alberta is the first minister for the Canadian province of Alberta, and the province's head of government. The current premier is Danielle Smith, leader of the United Conservative Party, who was sworn in on October 11, 2022. The ...

announced in an open letter to Albertans that the province was expecting significant higher than expected revenue from energy royalties and the government would be creating a program to return a portion of the surplus to Albertans in the form of a one-time

CA$ The Canadian dollar (symbol: $; code: CAD; french: dollar canadien) is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, there is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviation Can$ is often suggested by notable style g ...

400 payment sometime in January 2006. Previous government estimates had placed the 2005-06 budget surplus as $2.8-billion, however rising oil and gas prices had inflated this number to approximately $6.8-billion. The prosperity bonuses would total approximately $1.4-billion or 20 percent of the province's $6.8-billion surplus. The remainder of the $5.4-billion was allocated to other projects in the province. Prosperity bonuses were not subject to taxation by either the

federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

or provincial governments. The prosperity bonus cheques were commonly referred to as ''Ralph Bucks'' which was coined by

Calgary Sun The ''Calgary Sun'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is owned by Postmedia. First published in 1980, the tabloid-format daily replaced the long-running tabloid-size newspaper ''The Albertan'' soon after it was ...

columnists Rick Bell and Chris Nelson after searching for a term to describe the payment. After the announcement Klein left the door open for the possibility of annual prosperity cheques similar to the annual dividends provided by the government of

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

through the

Alaska Permanent Fund The Alaska Permanent Fund (APF) is a constitutionally established permanent fund managed by a state-owned corporation, the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation (APFC). It was established in Alaska in 1976 by Article 9, Section 15 of the Alaska Stat ...

since 1982.

One-time issue of cheques

Cheques were received by almost 3 million Albertans in 2006. However no further cheques were sent out. Klein resigned as premier later that same year, on December 14, 2006.

Eligibility

All Albertans who were residents of the province as of September 1, 2005, and filed a 2004

tax return A tax return is the completion of documentation that calculates an entity or individual's income earned and the amount of taxes to be paid to the government or government organizations or, potentially, back to the taxpayer. Taxation is one of ...

with the

Canada Revenue Agency The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA; ; ) is the revenue service of the Canadian federal government, and most provincial and territorial governments. The CRA collects taxes, administers tax law and policy, and delivers benefit programs and tax cre ...

received the bonus, except for

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

ers, who did not qualify. Cheques for Albertans under 18 years of age were payable only to their primary caregiver (the mother in most cases), thus leaving parents to determine how their children's share was to be distributed or used. Homeless Albertans also qualified—the government pledged to work with inner-city agencies to ensure that the homeless receive their money. Other questions were unanswered. For example, it was unknown how spouses fleeing abusive relationships would receive their bonus if they were housed in a shelter.

Public opinion

The program generated controversy both inside and outside Alberta. Few Albertans turned down their cheques, and a vast majority were glad for it. Some residents criticized what they saw as a pointless giveaway, and preferred to see the excess money put toward long-term benefits such as

tax cut A tax cut represents a decrease in the amount of money taken from taxpayers to go towards government revenue. Tax cuts decrease the revenue of the government and increase the disposable income of taxpayers. Tax cuts usually refer to reductions i ...

s or the abolition of health care premiums. Ralph Bucks made it into national media after a handful of non-Albertans came forward to admit they had received cheques to which they were not entitled, prompting criticism from the

Canadian Taxpayers Federation The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF; french: Fédération canadienne des contribuables, link=no) is a federally incorporated, non-profit organization in Canada. It claimed 30,517 donors and 215,009 supporters in 2018–19. Voting membership, ...

. Following the prosperity bonus program, some Albertans dropped their approval of the cheque program. They began viewing the $400 cheques negatively in light of falling oil and gas prices in 2008, and again in the

2010s File:2010s collage v21.png, From top left, clockwise: Anti-government protests called the Arab Spring arose in 2010–2011, and as a result, many governments were overthrown, including when Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi was killed; Crimea is ...

, which led to growing provincial debt and deficits in following years. ATB Financial's Economist Todd Hirsch stated publicly his opinion that the government "missed some great opportunities to invest in our post-secondary education systems."

References