No it wouldn't. You wouldn't be able to take the money for blanket social welfare and you'd have to pay high wages to management and senior technical staff without taxing it at 90% above 500k.
what do you consider blanket social welfare?
some call our free health care system free social welfare.
what do you think Government Corporations like the LCBO and the OLG are for?
They do just about exactly that.
That's the issue. I'd only support a Canadian Statoil if the funds were specifically tagged to developing and investing in industries which will diversify Canada's economic base in the long run.
The economy today basically runs on natural resources (at least the export part). So we would be converting that into something broader and more long-lasting.
Or we I guess we could spend the money on buying everyone a new Ferrari.
My issue isn't with social welfare as much as it is with ensuring that the money from this would be used wisely. I'm not saying that income taxes shouldn't go towards social welfare.
LCBO and OLG are interesting cases but not necessarily that relevant as they both operate in "social vices" space. Admittedly you can say money is fungible and there's no need for mental accounting but, for the same reason that people have budgets that define the split and sources of money, so should governments (because governments, like people, are prone to short term wants over long term wants, election pandering, waste, etc.)