Tag Archives: equalization

A Very Brief History of Federal Cash Transfers: Canada 1867 to 2017

This is a post in celebration of Canada’s 150th and similar in time span to my previous one on housing supply and dwelling starts. Canada is a federation and a key feature of its operation is a system of intergovernmental transfers between its fiscal tiers. Indeed, transfers and regional equity are enshrined in Section 36 […]

Supporting Ontario

One of the Mowat Centre’s recent policy forays on behalf of Ontario is the Federal Economic Agenda Project, which recently released a discussion paper detailing the objectives of what a federal government economic agenda to support Ontario should be.  According to the report, the federal agenda for Ontario should focus on: increased labour force participation, […]

Federal Transfers, Equalization and Ontario’s Cries for Reform

Transfers and equalization often flare up in Canadian policy discussions with the cry that there is a need for reform.  A recent Cohn column in the Toronto Star on Ontario’s economic stall concluded “Outdated equalization and transfer payments cry out for reform, but will likely continue to bleed Ontario’s taxpayers of about $12 billion a […]