Economically, Quebec has lagged behind the richest parts of Canada for many decades. Hence, its tax base is smaller but its welfare programs have been among the most generous in Canada since the 1960s. On its own, Quebec would never have been able to construct such a large welfare state. Thanks to federal transfers, Quebec has been able to live beyond its means for decades.
Equalization
Bavaria Mulls an End to Solidarity
Residents of the country’s industrial and financial powerhouse states, particularly Bavaria, resent having to make payments to poorer regions like the city-state of Berlin, which tops the list of transfer recipients, with annual help from its neighbors of €3 billion ($4 billion).
Spoilt West Invites Its Own Decline
It is easy and natural to think of the woes of the West’s main powers as an economic problem. Because that’s the way it is presented to us. And it is economic – at least, superficially. But if you take a step back, what we’re really living through is the decline of the West.
Euro-Zone Lessons for Canada
Unless Canadians get a handle on the provinces’ runaway spending, their growing mountain of debt, and the resulting tidal wave of interest charges, we can expect lots more home-grown social unrest, as have-not provincial governments fall short of voters’ outsized expectations.
Featured News
No Evidence of Climate Crisis
In his annual State of the Climate report published on April 14, 2022, Dr. Ole Humlum, Emeritus Professor at the University of Oslo, examined detailed patterns in temperature changes in the atmosphere and oceans together with trends in climate impacts. Many of these...
It Is Time to Move On
I wrote an opinion column immediately following the May 27, 2021 announcement of the “shocking discovery of 215 bodies found in a mass grave at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.” In that column, I correctly stressed the need to wait for real...
The Real Have-Nots In Confederation: British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario
British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario—the traditional “have” provinces—have fewer services than recipient “have-not” provinces.
Media Release – The Real Have-Nots in Confederation: Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia: How Canada’s equalization program creates generous programs and large governments in have-not provinces
British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario—the traditional “have” provinces—have fewer doctors and nurses per 100,000 people, higher tuition rates, fewer child care spaces, less social service spending, and higher educator-student ratios in comparison with Quebec, the major equalization recipient.
Speaker Bashes Regional Subsidies
“MacKinnon, a former CEO of the Ontario Hospitals Association, said ‘one of Canada’s most sacred cows — regional subsidies — is, in fact, chewing up the country’s economic foundations, national unity and future prospects.'”
Regional Subsidies Damage Ordinary Ontarians: David Mackinnon addresses Belleville Rotary Club
“I want to tackle a taboo subject today: how one of Canada’s most sacred cows—regional subsidies—is, in fact, chewing up the country’s economic foundations, national unity and future prospects.”
Why ‘Have’ Provinces Hate Equalization
Feedback to Mark Milke’s How Equalization Punishes Canadians in High-Cost Provinces Policy Note.
How Equalization Punishes Canadians in High-Cost Provinces: Federal transfers are fundamentally unsound
Equalization punishes Canadians in high-cost provinces.
Brian Lee Crowley, Founding President of AIMS, the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies
Frontier Conversation with the author of Fearful Symmetry – the Fall and Rise of Canada’s Founding Values and what the future holds for Canada’s labour market.
The Cynical Politics Of Equalization
Kevin Gaudet warns that keeping equalization payments artificially high due to poor fiscal policies in recipient provinces would not only require greater federal debt (read: higher taxes), but also brews regional confrontation. Worth a look from the National Post.
Exiting the Transfer Payment Game
One idea that has received a great deal of currency in recent years is that of transferring to the provinces the sales tax field and allowing them to collect the GST and set the rate within their borders in exchange for an end to Ottawa’s transfers in many areas of social policy.