Minister weighs in on equalization
Derek Mombourquette says misinformation abounds and insists province is committed to Cape Breton
Municipal Affairs Minister Derek Mombourquette wants to set the record straight on the dollar figures being bandied about by Cape Breton’s growing and increasingly vocal equalization fairness movement.
The Sydney-Whitney Pier MLA has been called out by some critics for not addressing what they claim is the inequitable distribution of the $1.838-billion transfer payment that Nova Scotia, as a have-not province, receives each year from the federal government.
The movement, the face of which is the Nova Scotians for Equalization Fairness group, contends that the cashstrapped Cape Breton Regional Municipality should annually receive approximately $239 million of the federal transfer payment. The group maintains that under the province’s current funding formula, eligible Nova Scotia municipalities only receive about $30 million, about half of which goes to the CBRM, and that the remaining $1.8 billion is spent at the discretion of the provincial government.
But, in a telephone interview with the Cape Breton Post on Tuesday, Mombourquette said the $15,335,838 (listed in the CBRM budget as a provincial transfer operating grant) has nothing to do with the federal equalization transfer program.
“I’ve been following this issue closely — people are assuming that the $15 million is equalization and it isn’t, that $15 million is partly from the Nova Scotia Power grant-in-lieu (of property tax) program and partly from general revenue from the province, so it’s not a direct flow through for transfer payments from the federal government, it’s a separate program altogether,” he said.
“We have researched communities all over the country and there is no situation across Canada where a province that receives equalization money has it flow directly into a specific community or broken up and moved into specific communities.”
And, when asked specifically where the federal transfer monies go, Mombourquette said the government uses the pay- ment in conjunction with its other revenue streams to fund a wide variety of programs and services across Nova Scotia.
“Ultimately, the provinces determine, based on priorities, where those resources are spent, so for me as a current MLA and somebody who advocates for the community every day, we set priorities every day,” he said.
“For example, all of the services the provincial government provides in the community, whether it be community services, housing, health care, education, are from general revenues that flow through the federal transfer program — this is all from one pot of money.”
Earlier this week in Sydney, the Nova Scotians for Equalization Fairness group held a town hall-style meeting, during which speaker after speaker testified as to how the CBRM is getting a raw deal when it comes to provincial funding. One group member suggested the municipality has been deprived of more than $4 billion over the past 20 years.
And, last week, CBRM councillor Ray Paruch said Mombourquette and fellow cabinet minister Geoff MacLellan, a Glace Bay MLA who also serves as the government’s House Leader, are “abysmal failures” when it comes to the equalization fight.
But Mombourquette refuted suggestions that he has turned his back on his constituents, adding that he and MacLellan actively fight for the economic well-being of the cash-strapped municipality he represents at the Legislative Assembly in Halifax and that he’s proud of what has been accomplished since he was elected two-and-ahalf-years ago.
“We’re working hard for home, we’re seeing significant investments for home and every day I come to work, I come to work for Cape Breton — in my role as one of two cabinet ministers who on a daily basis are advocating for home, we have the voice of Cape Breton at heart every time we go into a meeting and as a result of that we are working hard every day to ensure that these investments come into the community,” he said, adding that he’s working closely with Premier Stephen McNeil to ensure that Cape Breton issues are addressed at the provincial level.
“It has been a long time since the government has spent what we’re spending and what we’re going to spend in Cape Breton — I would ask them (his critics) to name a time in the last 20 years that they’ve seen a government invest this much in our community, we are moving on some of the biggest economic projects you will ever see in the CBRM — everything that the CBRM council has asked for from me since I’ve been minister they have received, they’ve never had as a strong a relationship with a minister as they have now.
“We’re also reviewing the municipality’s operating grant, and I’ve indicated that to the CBRM, but we’re doing it in conjunction with the writing of a charter for the CBRM, we’re working on a viability study for the CBRM for the long-term viability of the community, and we’re working on some other initiatives around their requests — everything I am doing is in concert and in partnership with the requests from the CBRM.”
Meanwhile, the Nova Scotians for Equalization Fairness group is holding a public rally today from 4-6 p.m. in front of the Provincial Building on Prince Street in Sydney.