Oliver promises more money for Ontario
Ottawa pledges rise in transfer payments
OTTAWA — Finance Minister Joe Oliver says transfer payments to the provinces will go up across the board in 2015-16, including to Ontario, which has assailed a $641-million cut this year as “an attack” on the province.
In an interview ahead of a meeting of federal and provincial finance ministers, Oliver said he’ll deliver the updated numbers on transfer payments to the provinces when he meets his counterparts Sunday and Monday in Ottawa.
Oliver repeated his calls for the Ontario Liberal government to get its fiscal house in order in an effort to help boost the Canadian economy, even as Premier Kathleen Wynne continues to demand a meet- ing with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The two governments are taking political potshots at each other, further straining what is already a threadbare relationship.
Oliver wouldn’t divulge exactly how much transfers, including equalization payments, will increase to Ontario or across Canada in the 2015-16 fiscal year that starts April 1.
Equalization payments provided to the so-called “have not” provinces are calculated by a complex formula that measures provinces’ ability to raise revenues, known as “fiscal capacity.” They are not unilaterally determined by the minister or government each year. Canada health and social transfers to the provinces also continue to grow each year as per legislated annual increases.
“Every single province will benefit from increased transfers this (coming) year,” Oliver said. “Ontario is just wrong on the facts. These are unprecedented increases and we’ll be providing more transfer money to the provinces than any time in history.”
The federal government says Ontario’s reduced equalization payments in the current 2014-15 fiscal year were based on the province’s improving economic fortunes. The federal government provided almost $19.2 billion in total equalization, health and social transfers to Ontario in 2014-15, a 76-per-cent increase since the Conservatives took office in 2006.
However, Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa called the reduced payments in 201415 “an attack on Ontario.” While health and social trans- fers to the province increased this year, Ontario saw its equalization payment cut by almost $1.2 billion — leading to an overall cut in transfers of $641 million.
Oliver argues that the Ontario government is misrepresenting the facts and should instead shore up its fiscal situation.
“Going after the federal gov- ernment has a long tradition in Canada, but it’s not especially constructive,” he said. “We’re willing to work and eager to work with them on a whole host of issues.”
The Ontario government, like other provinces, is calling on the Conservative government to re- examine federal- provincial fiscal arrangements.