This paper analyzes the fiscal condition of the four small, comparatively low-income Canadian provinces that rely on equalization payments as a source of revenue: Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Specifically, we examine recent trends in...
Equalization
Unconditional Cash Transfers Better Than Ineffective Welfare Programs
Politicians are fond of championing the middle class, but a recent study by Statistics Canada shows that middle income Canadians are doing relatively well compared with those who fall below the poverty line and younger Canadians are falling behind older cohorts....
Transfer Money to Individuals, Not Governments
Canadians benefit from a quality of life that few in human history could even conceive of. Unfortunately, many Canadians at the lower end of the income spectrum haven’t shared in those gains. A recent Statistics Canada report shows that while the middle class is...
Fiscal Imbalance in Canada: A Look at the Opportunity Costs of Equalization
Executive Summary Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia taxpayers have faced a long-standing fiscal gap between the federal transfers they receive and the transfers they deserve based on their share of federal revenue. The gap between the winners and losers of...
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Canadians on the Move, to Smaller Communities
The Canadian Dream is increasingly being realized in smaller areas For decades, Canadians moved to the larger cities (census metropolitan areas, or CMAs) with their economic opportunities. The latest estimates indicate that CMAs have 72 per cent of the nation’s...
Leadership Needed in Canadian Healthcare; Apply Within
When the Premiers were first called to a sit-down lunch to talk about healthcare with Prime Minister Trudeau, there was plenty of talk about the potential for systemic change, innovation and accountability. It seemed that Canadians and their leaders were finally on...
Some Inconvenient Facts About Equalization
To grasp why Canada’s equalization program is such a public policy disaster, some myths need to be busted about the $14.8-billion annual transfer of federal tax dollars to the provinces through equalization — and the $46-billion in other inter-governmental transfers. So, let’s some consider some inconvenient facts.
Getting Us Out of the Welfare Trap
The stated goal of Canada’s equalization program is to ensure that Canadians, regardless of their province of residence, have access to public services that are reasonably comparable, at reasonably comparable levels of taxation. This year, the program will distribute over $15-billion to the relatively poorer provinces (typically known as “have-not” provinces in equalization-speak).
Transfer Disease?: One energy industry contributes to equalization and one energy industry taketh away
A quirk in the equalization formula allows Quebec (and Manitoba) to massively subsidize their local markets without penalty. Effectively, Quebec’s massive dam infrastructure is being subsidized by equalization of which a major wealth generator and contributor to equalization is the Oil Sands.
Pay People, Not Provinces
The Occupy movement, like the ongoing street protests in Quebec, demonstrates that our current efforts at income redistribution have proven unsatisfactory to many Canadians: Although we have improved mobility between income levels in recent decades, the income gap between rich and poor actually has gotten wider.
Time to End Quebec’s ‘Welfaretrap,’ report says
Quebec may not be able to keep its gold-plated welfare state, but either way it is time to break the province’s 55-year “welfare trap” dependence on equalization payments, according to an economic note by the Montreal Economic Institute.
Artificially Cheap Hydro Power: Your equalization dollars at work
The federal government paid 34% more equalization to Quebec that it should have under more equitable rules that would treat hydro revenues the same as oil in the equalization formula. Alberta and Ontario taxpayers are effectively paying Quebec (and Manitoba) to consume artificially inexpensive power.
Radical Environmentalism Damages Economies and Lives
The radical green agenda failed long ago. Its damage to environment, economies, education and people’s lives has been enormous.
WA threat to split from Canberra
Premier Colin Barnett says WA will split from Canberra if the Federal Government doesn’t reward the state for driving the national economy.
Andrew Coyne Commentary on EI
The system subsidizes jobs in seasonal industries, that is, at the expense of jobs in other industries.