Canada Should Fix Equalization and Other Regional Subsidies Now, the latest study by the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies and the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, demonstrates how equalization is unfair, diminishes productivity, holds back economic development,...
Deplorably, the federal government recently announced it was renewing the current equalization system in Canada. I say “deplorably” because the evidence is mounting that equalization is a millstone around the neck of the less-developed provinces seeking to escape...
The Frontier Centre's David MacKinnon and why Canada's "have" provinces are getting a raw deal when it comes to equalization.
Day 13 - Advent is the season of preparing for Christmas. Here at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy we want to tell you about some of the things we would like to see under our tree. On Day 13 we would like to see transformative, “out of the box” reform of...
Those of you who are tired of my rants about the demise of our once great health system will be pleased to know that this is my last editorial. I am retiring from the BCMJ Editorial Board; currently, I am the longest-serving member (more than 20 years). I have been a...
Back in the lofty, pre-Justin Trudeau government days of 2014, back when oil was booming, pipelines were planned to east and west coasts, and Alberta and Saskatchewan were swimming in money, around $81 billion was spent in capital expenditures (CAPEX) in the Canadian...
As they do about once a decade, the Germans are again fighting over their domestic “transfer union,” in which tax revenues are redistributed among the 16 federal Länder (states).
Last week, the Globe and Mail ran an article authored by John Ibbitson which profiled David MacKinnon, a Frontier Centre senior fellow and one of the country's leading critics of Canada's equalization program. David's work over the past several years has helped show...
A July presentation to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty suggesting the government is committed to a full-scale review of how it addresses hydroelectricity revenues in the equalization formula is not under active consideration, the Finance Department said Thursday.
Only in Canada would an Eastern politician refer to two billion dollars of Albertans’ hard-earned money as “chump change.”
Mention the subject of federal transfer payments, and most people’s eyes will glaze over. Mention that taxpayers in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario are net contributors to federal transfer payments – even though the cost of living is highest in those provinces, and lowest in the provinces that receive the bulk of federal transfer payments – and you might get people’s attention.
Equalization policies now intensify calls for separatism in Belgium. Political tensions run high in Belgium, a federal state consisting of Dutch-speaking Flanders, French-speaking Wallonia and the bilingual Brussels-capital region. The previous general election, in 2010, led to an 18-month political crisis before a government was formed.
While these proposed reforms will be seen as very scary by our cautious ruling political class, they must still be seen for what they are. We need to look at the tweaks purportedly being considered as more patches on a very patched up and dysfunctional transfer payment system.
Anyone with even a fleeing memory of Saskatchewan’s former battles with Ottawa over equalization might consider Premier Brad Wall utterly mad even for mentioning the topic today, let alone express concern about the federal program.
The result has been that, in some important respects, governments of the traditional “have-not” provinces have been able to provide public services that are more expansive and accessible than what is available to residents of Alberta, BC and Ontario.