Ottawa is suppressing key parts of a politically explosive federal report that reveals Ontario is being shortchanged by Canada’s national wealth-sharing scheme, the Star has learned.
The 67-page study is a searing assault on a $15.4 billion-a-year equalization system that redistributes taxpayers’ dollars to ensure equivalent levels of health, education and other programs across the country.
Its conclusion: Ontario and B.C. lose out because it’s much more expensive to operate in those provinces. Conversely, Quebec and the Maritimes, where the cost of living is cheaper, reap disproportionate benefits.
And when the government was forced to release the report, it removed large, potentially controversial, chunks.
Entitled, “An Operational Expenditure Need Equalization Formula for Canada,” the report was written in 2006 by Peter Gusen, then director of federal-provincial relations at the federal finance department in an attempt to analyze how much it costs to deliver services in different provinces.
The Star has obtained the uncensored report.
“ ‘Poor’ provinces are not generally needy. British Columbia has the highest expenditure need per capita and Quebec the lowest,” wrote Gusen, then, in one of 27 sections of his report censored by Ottawa.
The 67-page study is a searing assault on a $15.4 billion-a-year equalization system that redistributes taxpayers’ dollars to ensure equivalent levels of health, education and other programs across the country.
Its conclusion: Ontario and B.C. lose out because it’s much more expensive to operate in those provinces. Conversely, Quebec and the Maritimes, where the cost of living is cheaper, reap disproportionate benefits.
And when the government was forced to release the report, it removed large, potentially controversial, chunks.
Entitled, “An Operational Expenditure Need Equalization Formula for Canada,” the report was written in 2006 by Peter Gusen, then director of federal-provincial relations at the federal finance department in an attempt to analyze how much it costs to deliver services in different provinces.
The Star has obtained the uncensored report.
“ ‘Poor’ provinces are not generally needy. British Columbia has the highest expenditure need per capita and Quebec the lowest,” wrote Gusen, then, in one of 27 sections of his report censored by Ottawa.