Stop the spin and falsehoods and blame yourself Alberta

Despite the broad popularity of such positions, they're needless distractions at best and counterproductive at worst. While reasonable people can disagree over whether the federal government should support poorer provinces, and how such support is structured, most of what Albertans hear on the topic is wrong and the proposal to remove natural resources from the formula will backfire.

Don’t blame equalization for Alberta’s fiscal mess

What about equalization? If the program was cancelled and all proceeds returned in equal per-person payments nationally, Alberta's $27-billion gap in 2015 would only fall to $25-billion.

Would excluding non-renewable resource revenue help? No. Alberta would still receive nothing, and Quebec would receive more. A lot more. I estimate its payment in 2017-18 would increase by $1.6-billion to nearly $12.7-billion. This is, presumably, the opposite effect that proponents of such a measure want. (This is due to the so-called "fiscal capacity cap," among other things, although the details don't concern us here.)

Read More: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/dont-blame-equalization-for-albertas-fiscal-mess/article36680619/?fbclid=IwAR3iAiJ_SUxegZpodA8pVeDnW5YUj8r1HhvbKcU6eAy4nTVf6D_M9LgouCQ