The distribution of Equalization Payments are not fair as shown by this article.
The concept of Equalization Payments should be abolished all together.
Equalization payments make for unequal services: study | Financial Post
------
These have-not provinces are now on a “government-services spending spree,” thanks to equalization payments from the country’s richer regions, according to a study released Monday by the Fraser Institute.
Mark Milke, author of the report by the independent public-policy think-tank, says “instead of providing ‘reasonably comparable levels of public services at reasonably comparable levels of taxation,’ as the Constitution sets out, equalization results in ‘have-not’ provinces buying more expensive government goodies than the spending-responsible ‘have’ provinces.”
“More professors, more doctors, more nurses, lower tuition fees and smaller class sizes can all be enjoyed in the provinces which do not have to pay for these services by themselves.”
Over that time, Alberta, for example, was the only province that did not receive financial assistance from the rest of Canada. The Fraser Institute contends that British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Ontario received “very little.”
For the current 2013-14 fiscal year, equalization payments will total $16.1-billion, according the Finance Department.
Among the six provinces receiving transfers this year, the biggest recipient will be Quebec at $7.8-billion, followed by Ontario — which qualified for the first time in 2009-10 — at $3.17-billion, department data show. The other recipients are Manitoba ($1.79-billion), New Brunswick ($1.51-billion), Nova Scotia ($1.46-billion) and Prince Edward Island ($340-million).
Newfoundland and Labrador, which had received payments since the program began, became a “have” province in 2009-10.
The concept of Equalization Payments should be abolished all together.
Equalization payments make for unequal services: study | Financial Post
------
These have-not provinces are now on a “government-services spending spree,” thanks to equalization payments from the country’s richer regions, according to a study released Monday by the Fraser Institute.
Mark Milke, author of the report by the independent public-policy think-tank, says “instead of providing ‘reasonably comparable levels of public services at reasonably comparable levels of taxation,’ as the Constitution sets out, equalization results in ‘have-not’ provinces buying more expensive government goodies than the spending-responsible ‘have’ provinces.”
“More professors, more doctors, more nurses, lower tuition fees and smaller class sizes can all be enjoyed in the provinces which do not have to pay for these services by themselves.”
Over that time, Alberta, for example, was the only province that did not receive financial assistance from the rest of Canada. The Fraser Institute contends that British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Ontario received “very little.”
For the current 2013-14 fiscal year, equalization payments will total $16.1-billion, according the Finance Department.
Among the six provinces receiving transfers this year, the biggest recipient will be Quebec at $7.8-billion, followed by Ontario — which qualified for the first time in 2009-10 — at $3.17-billion, department data show. The other recipients are Manitoba ($1.79-billion), New Brunswick ($1.51-billion), Nova Scotia ($1.46-billion) and Prince Edward Island ($340-million).
Newfoundland and Labrador, which had received payments since the program began, became a “have” province in 2009-10.
