Media report on equalization does ‘grave disservice’

If the aim of the CBC is to keep the general population informed about the Equalization issue exactly comparable to the government’s explanation, it did accomplish that with its recent postcast and news item:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/ canada/nova-scotia/6-communities-rely-most-on-money-fromthe-equalization-table-1.4722202

https://podcast-a.akamaihd. net/mp3/podcasts/nsinfomornUzdKgDpL-20180627.mp3

The public, however, because of the volunteer committee Nova Scotians for Equalization Fairness has already been informed via the Cape Breton Post and social media information that was not presented in the CBC’s supposedly unbiased reporting. This relevant fact being that approximately 26 per cent of the total yearly Equalization payments of $1.8 billion has a municipal connection, which none of the politicians want to admit.

This was confirmed by former Nova Scotia finance minister Maureen MacDonald on March 8, 2013, which states as follows: “Deficiencies in fiscal capacity related to property and miscellaneous revenues form a significant part of the total Equalization program in most receiving provinces. At 26.8 per cent in 2011-12, Nova Scotia’s fiscal capacity deficiency related to property tax and miscellaneous revenues is comparable to that of other receiving provinces.”

Further, a reply from the federal department of finance stated that it was “approximately 26 per cent.”

The CBC’s report has done a grave disservice to the many municipalities that are the subject of underfunding by the government’s inadequate provincial equalization grant that is now, apparently, under review.