Ontario To Become Have-Not Province?

[Riverwind]

There's no doubt that Fort McMisery is being short-changed right now. However, the provincial government is going to have to invest a *lot* of money there to upgrade the city's infrastructure, simply to try to catch up with the explosive growth there.  I have high confidence in the provincial government to direct money that Fort McMurray needs back to Fort McMurray. I have very low confidence in the federal government to do so.

Perhaps that is the real issue here: Albertans would not be so adverse to sharing their oil windfall with the rest of the country if the federal gov't could be trusted to use it wisely and not piss it away on porcine projects of dubious merit.

Unfortunately, I have to agree with Albertans on this point, although Martin and the Liberals have been adequate stewards of the country's overall finances they have a rather distressing addiction to 'regional development projects'. Any additional oil related revenues would likely be spent in this way.

Perhaps, it is time for Alberta to use its oil wealth a bargaining chip to bring in long needed changes to structure of the federation rather than simply taking the 'hands off our oil' approach which comes across as excessively scrooge like in the rest of the country.

[kimmy]

Perhaps that is the real issue here: Albertans would not be so adverse to sharing their oil windfall with the rest of the country if the federal gov't could be trusted to use it wisely and not piss it away on porcine projects of dubious merit.

Unfortunately, I have to agree with Albertans on this point, although Martin and the Liberals have been adequate stewards of the country's overall finances they have a rather distressing addiction to 'regional development projects'. Any additional oil related revenues would likely be spent in this way.

This is why many in Alberta are in the "provincial rights" camp. With so little clout in federal government, the logical response for smaller provinces is to have as many decisions as possible made at the provincial level.

Perhaps, it is time for Alberta to use its oil wealth a bargaining chip to bring in long needed changes to structure of the federation rather than simply taking the 'hands off our oil' approach which comes across as excessively scrooge like in the rest of the country.

Well, you can imagine how that would go. Probably something like this...

What makes these ignorami believe their wealth gives them the right to dictate terms to the rest of the nation?

It is probably for the best that if equalization is not achieving the desired results, Ontario be the one that kick the door in and demand change. If that call comes from out west, it'll just lead to confrontation for reasons you've already mentioned.

Monday's Edmonton Journal had a big article on page A2 in regard to the topic of this thread. They interviewed financial analysts on the subject, including David Watt of BMO Nesbitt-Burns (I don't know whether he's authoritative; I just mention him by name because it's the only name I can remember) ...and there was general agreement that Ontario's fiscal problems were a result of fiscal mismanagement over the past decade or more, not because of equalization.

-k

[August1991]

In a meandering column that reminds me of the seagull in "The Little Mermaid", Chantal Hebert arrives at this "conclusion":

The Alberta surplus could also allow the province to do through the back door of fiscal might what generations of politicians from Western Canada have failed to achieve through the front door of Parliament and secure an influence on the national scene commensurate with its achievements.

But there is flip side.

Over the years, Canadians have got used to Quebec opting out of national programs to do its own thing.

Nothing stands in the way of Alberta doing just that.

--

The Alberta surplus could shift the balance of power toward Western Canada.

But Canada's ongoing failure to modernize its national institutions means that this new reality is unlikely to find an appropriate outlet on the federal scene.

In time, this could have as great, or greater consequences for Canada's social union as the failure to accommodate Quebec's constitutional aspirations has had for the country's unity.

Toronto Star

[apollo19]

Well, for those of us who may not be too knowledgable about this subject, there is a good report breaking down the equalization program here: http://www.bcstats.gov.bc.ca/pubs/bcbi/bcbi0408.PDF

Basically this shows that the three main givers to the program are Alberta, BC, and Ontario; as well as federal govt expenditures throughout the country on goods and services.

See, when Stephen Harper talked about this, he used words like "dependancy" and "culture of defeatism."  If he had talked to the folks at the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, they could have explained how to phrase it so as to not hurt peoples' feelings.

The info in the report would support this, as the feds spend a lot of money on goods and services in the Atlantic region, for their small population.