"The federal government Parliamentary Budget Officer says Ontario saw a decline of 37.3 per cent, or about $1.2 billion, in transfer payments."
Joe Oliver uses every opportunity to bash Ontario because it is not governed by Conservatives. Flaherty was even worse. Every Harperite takes the opportunity to not just infer, but to state outright that Ontario is badly run. They do this while gutting transfers, signing trade agreements that send the manufacturing jobs to foreign nations, and maintain artifically high EI taxes that harm small businesses. This is campaigning against the party in power and at the cost of harm being done to services for ON citizens. No quarter was, or is given for federal decisions having destroyed the major work base of the province. It is nothing short of criminal.
Ontario big loser in equalization payments, budget watchdog says
OTTAWA—The Parliamentary Budget Officer says changes to federal equalization payments makes Ontario the big loser among provinces, while Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick gain double-digit increases.
The report finds total equalization payments transfers from Ottawa to the provinces and territories rose about 3.5 per cent this fiscal year.
But the distribution is wildly different from province to province, with Ontario seeing a 37.3 per cent decline, or about $1.2 billion.
Meanwhile, Quebec will see transfers under the program increase 17.5 per cent, Nova Scotia, 11.5 per cent, and New Brunswick by 10.2 per cent.
The report notes that the federal government this year chose to stop a program ensuring no province receives less in a given fiscal year in combined transfers than it received in previous years.
The PBO says Ontario would have been the only province to qualify in 2014-15, hence has missed out on $640 million in revenues.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/06/19/ontario_big_loser_in_equalization_payments_budget_watchdog_says.html
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