01-21-2006, 03:26 PM
Anybody in Alberta get their money from Ralph yet? I could really use that $400 right about now. My post Christmas Visa bill is not a pretty sight.
01-21-2006, 03:26 PM
01-21-2006, 06:48 PM
I heard that they were going to be mailed the third week of Jan - i.e. this coming week.
01-22-2006, 08:10 PM
cferneyh Wrote:I heard that they were going to be mailed the third week of Jan - i.e. this coming week.
Hmmmm - what is your little one listening to on those headphones - could it possibly be......
02-02-2006, 11:24 AM
Wednesday, February 1, 2006 Posted at 9:37 PM EST
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
Calgary — Either Premier Ralph Klein has decided to share Alberta's energy wealth or there's a glitch in the province's resource rebate program, but a Toronto man was surprised this week to find Ralphbucks in his mailbox.
David Parkinson, a Globe and Mail reporter, hasn't lived in Calgary since early 2002 and hasn't filed income taxes as an Albertan since 2001, yet he received a $400 cheque and a note of congratulations from the Premier for helping build Alberta.
"That province was nothing before I got there. Look at it now," joked the former Calgarian, who said he has no intention of cashing the cheque.
Alberta Finance was dumbfounded by the mistake.
"Honestly, this is the first one we've heard of this variety," said Finance Department spokesman Gerald Kastendieck.
About 2.3 million cheques worth an estimated $1.4-billion are being mailed to every person who filed taxes in Alberta in 2004 and lived there as of September, 2005, or was born in the province last year.
Prisoners are excluded, but the recently deceased are not.
Cheques were addressed according to the Canada Revenue Agency's database.
It's not clear how many other people who aren't eligible for the cheques have received them, but this was the first such complaint that either Alberta Finance or Canada Revenue had heard of.
Yesterday, however, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation issued a release saying a man in Brantford, Ont., with no connections to Alberta, also received a cheque.
It's not the first time there have been mistakes with government rebate programs.
In 2000, hundreds of prisoners received $150 cheques from the Alberta government, which were meant to help residents offset the high cost of energy.
The Alberta rebate cheques are being issued in stages in a bid to deter mail theft, but someone in High Level, Alta., stole cheques from group mail boxes this week and has been cashing them, while about a dozen cheques from a single Edmonton apartment building were found in a nearby junior high school's garbage can.
Meanwhile, calls have been flooding in to a phone line that has been set up by the revenue agency about perceived mistakes or from people who believe they were missed.
Omissions have included missing children or spouses or cheques addressed to Alberta accountants rather than the taxpayer.
The Alberta Finance department has asked that those who think they have been missed to wait to call until Feb. 10.
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
Calgary — Either Premier Ralph Klein has decided to share Alberta's energy wealth or there's a glitch in the province's resource rebate program, but a Toronto man was surprised this week to find Ralphbucks in his mailbox.
David Parkinson, a Globe and Mail reporter, hasn't lived in Calgary since early 2002 and hasn't filed income taxes as an Albertan since 2001, yet he received a $400 cheque and a note of congratulations from the Premier for helping build Alberta.
"That province was nothing before I got there. Look at it now," joked the former Calgarian, who said he has no intention of cashing the cheque.
Alberta Finance was dumbfounded by the mistake.
"Honestly, this is the first one we've heard of this variety," said Finance Department spokesman Gerald Kastendieck.
About 2.3 million cheques worth an estimated $1.4-billion are being mailed to every person who filed taxes in Alberta in 2004 and lived there as of September, 2005, or was born in the province last year.
Prisoners are excluded, but the recently deceased are not.
Cheques were addressed according to the Canada Revenue Agency's database.
It's not clear how many other people who aren't eligible for the cheques have received them, but this was the first such complaint that either Alberta Finance or Canada Revenue had heard of.
Yesterday, however, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation issued a release saying a man in Brantford, Ont., with no connections to Alberta, also received a cheque.
It's not the first time there have been mistakes with government rebate programs.
In 2000, hundreds of prisoners received $150 cheques from the Alberta government, which were meant to help residents offset the high cost of energy.
The Alberta rebate cheques are being issued in stages in a bid to deter mail theft, but someone in High Level, Alta., stole cheques from group mail boxes this week and has been cashing them, while about a dozen cheques from a single Edmonton apartment building were found in a nearby junior high school's garbage can.
Meanwhile, calls have been flooding in to a phone line that has been set up by the revenue agency about perceived mistakes or from people who believe they were missed.
Omissions have included missing children or spouses or cheques addressed to Alberta accountants rather than the taxpayer.
The Alberta Finance department has asked that those who think they have been missed to wait to call until Feb. 10.
02-02-2006, 01:15 PM
I still haven't got mine. Textbooks were $500 this term, I could really use the cheque before the next Visa bill.
02-02-2006, 01:17 PM
BulletRiddled Wrote:I still haven't got mine. Textbooks were $500 this term, I could really use the cheque before the next Visa bill.
Ours somehow went to our old address, despite the fact that we moved and changed our mailing address with the gov't in July 2005. Have you moved recently?
02-02-2006, 01:28 PM
We got ours on Tuesday.
02-02-2006, 09:14 PM
Got mine on Friday!
:thumb:
:thumb:
02-03-2006, 01:35 AM
cferneyh Wrote:BulletRiddled Wrote:I still haven't got mine. Textbooks were $500 this term, I could really use the cheque before the next Visa bill.
Ours somehow went to our old address, despite the fact that we moved and changed our mailing address with the gov't in July 2005. Have you moved recently?
Nope, the last time I moved was 12 years ago.
This is typical for me, though. A few years ago we called the city to remove a tree from our yard. They cut down someone else's tree. We never found out who, but we did get a coupon for a new tree. We tried again the next year and the exact same thing happened.
02-03-2006, 11:04 AM
BulletRiddled Wrote:This is typical for me, though. A few years ago we called the city to remove a tree from our yard. They cut down someone else's tree. We never found out who, but we did get a coupon for a new tree. We tried again the next year and the exact same thing happened.
I'd be pissed if I went home and my tree was gone!