Time to fight for equalization
As far back as I can remember, I saw that there was prejudicial treatment of Cape Bretoners by Halifax. In fact, when I later attended university and worked there, I frequently met people who revealed (often in a jocular way) a negative view of Cape Bretoners.
I could never understand why this sentiment existed, even among my own Haligonian cousins. I saw Cape Bretoners as interesting people with soul - creative, philosophical, generous, smart, fun-loving people. What’s not to love? And try as one would to reverse the biased view, it persisted. We were barbarian hicks living off the dole.
Let’s forget about sentiment for a minute, and consider some cold, hard facts. For years, life has been a struggle here for too many people. Roughly a third of our people live in poverty. A huge reason for this has been the failure for years by a series of Nova Scotia governments to properly disburse federal equalization monies to intended, economically depressed areas. Subsequently, we’ve been in a slow-motion death spiral here. The same is true in varying degrees of other communities outside of the Halifax Regional Municipality. Five towns have dissolved already due to underfunding.
The federal government under former prime minister Pierre Trudeau recognized that not all regions of the country had the same level of economic advantages, and that in order to facilitate economic growth some efforts towards equalization were necessary. Ergo, equalization money was given to the provincial governments to disburse to communities that needed it.
For those many Cape Bretoners who are worried about the future of our island, there is a way to help, but it will take some effort. The recent meeting of the NSEF (Nova Scotians for Equalization Fairness) at the Cedars Club in Sydney on April 3 was an inspiring example of people-strength. The hall was packed to the rafters by people of all walks who were there to learn and to see if they could do something.
This year the feds will give approximately $1.838 billion in an equalization payment to the Nova Scotia government. The share that should be received by the CBRM is $239 million, but the provincial government will be providing only $15 million. The amount of money CBRM owes the province is $17 plus million. Shocking, no?
It is a huge disparity. We must let our elected representatives know that we can and will no longer put up with this paltry provincial payment. We have to demand out fair share. The provincial government can no longer cheat communities of their rightful share. The federal government has to ensure that its equalization payment reaches the intended targets, and is not seized to build a super-city.
The NSEF has done its homework. It has the supporting documentation and now it’s our turn. We need to write and fight. To get involved, check out the website at nsef. ca. You can also email: nsefgroupsydney@gmail.com Jane MacNeill Ben Eoin