AIMS Director of Research Ben Eisen and Fraser Institute Senior Fellow Mark Milke argue that Canada's equalization program discourages natural resource development in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, which hinders private sector investment, job creation, and additional royalty and tax revenues.
Manitoba’s share of federal transfer payments has shrunk dramatically over the last five years and it’s mostly Ontario’s fault. A study released today by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy and the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies looked at federal equalization payments made to four small, historic "have-not" provinces–Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.
Manitoba's share of federal equalization money has shrunk dramatically over the last five years, and it's mostly Ontario's fault. That's according to a new study released Wednesday that bolsters the province's long-standing frustration over flat federal transfer payments. The study, done by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy and the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS), found Manitoba's share of Ottawa's total equalization pie has shrunk more than 24 per cent since the recession. That's the biggest drop of any of the historic "have-not" provinces.
In a radio interview on the John Gormley show, 650 CKOM, AIMS policy analyst and co-author of "Declining Equalization Payments and Fiscal Challenges in the Small 'Have-not' Provinces" discusses the results of that report and argues that provincial governments in Canada must begin to recognize their own fiscal demands and choose policies that meet them rationally, instead of waiting for federal support.
NationTalk covers the release of a joint FCPP/AIMS paper outlining the fiscal challenges facing Canada's small 'have-not' provinces, particularly in the context of declining equalization payments.
Telegraph Journal reporter Chris Morris discusses an AIMS publication that analyzes the declining share of equalization payments to Atlantic Canada.
The Telegraph Journal editorial board discusses an AIMS publication analyzing the declining share of equalization payments to New Brunswick and urges the government in that province to "
AIMS Director of Research Ben Eisen, policy analyst Shaun Fantauzzo, and UNB economist David Murrell discuss PEI's fiscal challenges in the context of declining equalization payments in their latest opinion pieces featured in the Guardian and Telegraph Journal.
In “Declining Equalization Payments and Fiscal Challenges in the Small ‘Have-not’ Provinces,” authors Ben Eisen, David Murrell, and Shaun Fantauzzo show that equalization payments as a share of provincial GDP have declined markedly in recent years in these four provinces, particularly since Ontario began receiving payments in 2009/10.
Halifax, NS and Winnipeg, MB (12 November 2014): Today, the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) and the Frontier Centre for Public Policy (FCPP) released a new paper documenting a recent decline in equalization payments (relative to provincial GDP) to Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. In “Declining Equalization Payments and Fiscal [...]