Following the federal money

Just to refresh your memory--out from Alberta and Ontario, in to the Atlantic provinces and, to a lesser extent, Quebec:

Entitled "Federal government revenue and spending by province: A scoreboard of the winners and losers in Confederation?" the article by Statscan's Stephen West ends with a question mark to avoid drawing definitive conclusions, given the imprecision of modern accounting conventions. But the piece still goes a long way toward demystifying the regional basis of federal taxing and spending.

[...]

So, who "wins" under federalism? The Atlantic provinces, by a mile. In 2004, Ottawa "spent" $4,250 more for every New Brunswicker than it collected in the province; Prince Edward Islanders really hit the jackpot with per capita net federal spending of $5,254.

Quebec, surprisingly, benefited only modestly from federal spending in 2004, with Ottawa contributing $281 more on a per capita basis, or $2.1-billion, than it took out of the province. But this sum doesn't take into account the $995-million in extra equalization payments Quebec will get this year due to a technical adjustment, or the expected manna that Prime Minister Stephen Harper will shower on the province in his March 19 budget.

The article buttresses the claims of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, who has ruffled feathers in Ottawa with his assertion that a $23-billion gap exists between what his province pays into federal coffers and what it gets back in transfers and services. Mr. West pegs the gap at $20.8-billion in 2004, or $1,674 for every Ontarian. In Alberta, the gap in favour of Ottawa was $9-billion, or $2,794 on a per capita basis.

Indeed, Albertans are more responsible than anyone else for keeping Ottawa flush. It collected $3,883 in personal income taxes for every Albertan in 2004. Each Ontarian sent $3,446 to Ottawa. Each Quebecker? A modest $2,226...

Holy cow! Dalton McGuinty got one right.

Mark C.

Posted by markc at March 9, 2007 05:27 PM