This new AIMS study, the first in AIMS Oil & Gas Series, outlines a win-win strategy to reduce the overall cost of equalization and put more money into the hands of the provinces in the long term. The paper’s author Ken Boessenkool, effectively illustrates that by removing nonrenewable resource revenues from the equalization clawback we could promote expanded provincial self-sufficiency, simplify the current formula, protect the federal treasury from the sometimes wild variations in resource prices and implement a true national, 10-province standard. This paper brings together several themes which AIMS has identified as strategically vital in its efforts to contribute to the quality of debate about public policy in Atlantic Canada.
