The stated objective of Canada’s equalization program is to ensure provincial governments in less-prosperous regions of the country are able to deliver high-quality public services to residents. This is a worthwhile, even noble objective. That the program is motivated...
Equalization
Radio interview with David Mackinnon (580 CFRA)
Frontier Senior Fellow David Mackinnon discusses the problems with Canada’s antiquated equalization system and how it suppresses growth in recipient provinces. On 580 CFRA News Talk Radio on December 11, 2018 with Rob Snow. Listen here.
It is Time for a Fundamental Course Change by Atlantic Canadians Respecting Equalization and other Regional Subsidies
Earlier this week, as a Senior Fellow with both the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies and the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, I made a presentation to independent Senators in Ottawa. Senators were advised that Canada’s regional subsidies were ineffective. The...
Time to Rethink the Federal Transfers System
It is time for a fundamental course change by Atlantic Canadians respecting equalization and other regional subsidies. Earlier this week I made a presentation to independent Senators in Ottawa on this subject, in which I advised them that Canada’s regional subsidies...
Featured News
How to Turn Free Citizens Into Compliant Serfs
Free citizens have minds of their own and want to pursue their lives as they see fit. This is inconvenient for the elites, who wish to be in charge of everyone’s lives so that they can show their superiority and gain benefit for themselves and their friends. So the...
Demographia International Housing Affordability – 2023 Edition Released
Demographia International Housing Affordability rates middle-income housing affordability in 94 major housing markets in eight nations: Australia, Canada, China, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. This edition covers the third...
It is Crunch Time for Atlantic Canada
Over fifty years, observers have become inured to troubling reports of Atlantic Canada's economic difficulties. Even the most jaundiced observer would recognize, however, that data for the last two years describes something different. The regional economy is not...
Manitoba: Beware the Puffball Economy
The Manitoba and federal governments have recently disagreed on the population of the province, a dispute that could lessen the transfer payments Manitoba receives, overwhelmingly from taxpayers in other provinces. Manitoba Finance Minister Jennifer Howard feels...
Equalization payments do nobody any favours
Source: Barry Cooper, The Calgary Herald, 12 Nov 2013 Legislation governing Canada’s equalization program, which supports most intergovernmental transfers, is scheduled to expire next March. Bureaucrats have been negotiating over new terms for at least a year. In...
Evidence Suggests Windfall Government Revenue Worsens Corruption
A study published in this month’s American Economic Review demonstrates that increased federal transfers to municipalities in Brazil lead to increased corruption. While one can quibble over whether the effect is as strong in more developed countries, the results are precisely what should be expected, given the incentives facing politicians.
Equalization Corrodes Belgium
An occasional topic at Frontier is equalization, a very time worn federal transfer program that flows vast sums of money, no-strings-attached, to the so-called "have-not" provinces. While certainly well-intended, several think tanks have documented the program's...
Manitoba Government Spending Rising Rapidly
FC077
Manning Networking Conference 2013
Last month the Frontier Centre attended the annual Manning Networking Conference in Ottawa As well as getting to listen to some great speakers and panels during the conference sessions, we also had a booth of our own out in the foyer. It was a great opportunity to...
Ontario Can No Longer Take One for the Team
Thirty-five years ago, Ontario premier Bill Davis explained his province’s oversized responsibility for Canadian harmony in a lecture to a group of American college students. Ontario “is sufficiently significant in its economic and political influence that in terms comparable to the United States it would be like combining the states of New York and California,” he said. “Ontarians contribute to our national program of equalization, are blamed for whatever goes wrong and are generally expected to set high standards of national conduct.”
Ontario Unfairly Strained by $11-Billion ‘Fiscal Gap’
Outdated policies that cause Ontario to turn over roughly $11 billion more to the federal government each year than it receives are placing an unfair strain on the province, a public policy think tank said in a report released Monday.