Ottawa Announces Record $24 Billion in Equalization Payments

The federal authorities has announced it is going to present a report $24 billion in equalization payments in 2023–24 with Quebec, Manitoba, and Maritime provinces being the principle recipients.
Introduced on Dec. 15, the newest determine of $23.96 billion represents a $2 billion enhance from 2022–23.
Equalization, a federal program that sees the switch of tax {dollars} collected by Ottawa from throughout the nation to provinces with lesser potential to lift revenues at given tax charges, may even see Ontario receiving the cost although the sum is comparably decrease than the opposite receiving provinces.
The newest data launched by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland exhibits that Quebec will obtain essentially the most at $14.04 billion, whereas Manitoba will get $3.51 billion. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island (PEI) might be paid $2.8 billion, $2.63 billion, and $561 million, respectively.
Ontario trails behind PEI with $421 million anticipated to be transferred to the province in 2023–24.
Making an allowance for the population of those provinces in Q3 of 2022 estimated by Statistics Canada, the equalization per capita calculated ranges from as excessive as over $3,000 to as little as $28.
PEI has the best cost per individual at $3,287, adopted by New Brunswick ($3,240) and Nova Scotia ($2,749). Manitoba is on the fourth place at $2,491, adopted by Quebec at $1,614. Ontario has the bottom at $28 per individual.
Equalization was contested by Alberta’s former Premier Jason Kenney who pledged within the 2019 UCP election marketing campaign to take away the federal program from the Structure.
There was long-standing grievance in Alberta over the redistribution of wealth to different provinces underneath the equalization scheme, as contributions from energy-rich Alberta make up a large portion of the funds to different provinces.
A ballot performed final October indicated that over 60 % of Albertans have stated “sure” to a good deal from Ottawa.
Andrew Chen contributed to this report.