Have-not is once again: N.L. to receive $218M equalization payment next fiscal year
CBC
For the first time since 2008, Newfoundland and Labrador will receive money from the federal government under the equalization program.
The province will take in $218 million from Ottawa in the 2024-2025 fiscal year, according to a letter sent from federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to Newfoundland and Labrador Finance Minister Siobhan Coady last week.
Equalization is the federal government's transfer program for addressing "fiscal disparities among provinces" to provide reasonably comparable levels of public services.
Newfoundland and Labrador famously celebrated the end of equalization payments in 2008 when oil royalties were flowing and unemployment was low.
"This is a very proud day for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, I can tell you," former premier Danny Williams told media and supporters on Nov. 3, 2008. "Effectively this year Newfoundland and Labrador is now a have province. That's a momentous day for the people of this province."
Williams echoed sentiments from another former premier, Brian Peckford, who made a prediction in his victory speech nearly 30 years earlier.
"One day the sun will shine and have-not will be no more," Peckford said in 1982.
The province's already fragile economy was dealt a massive blow in 1992 when the federal government announced a moratorium on the cod fishing industry that put 30,000 people out of work. In the years following, 10 per cent of the population moved away and the labour force shrunk drastically.
This history underpinned William's triumphant announcement in 2008.
"Over the years we have been ridiculed for that," he said. "At times times we've been presented as the poor cousins in Canada. Now we can hold our heads high and feel very good about it."
The province's financial fortunes have changed since 2008. Newfoundland and Labrador has a debt of $16 billion — about $30,000 per person in the province. The unemployment rate has nearly doubled since the province last saw an equalization payment, hovering around 10 per cent.
While Williams will be remembered for leading the province out of equalization payments, he'll also be remembered for the Muskrat Falls megaproject that helped lead the province back to the trough. Described as a "boondoggle" by Stan Marshall, the CEO who led the project, the cost of the hydroelectric dam has ballooned to $13.4 billion for a province of 521,000 people.
While other federal transfers, such as the Canada Health Transfer, are tied to population, equalization is determined by a formula.
Critics of the equalization formula have spent years arguing Newfoundland and Labrador should qualify for payments, often taking issue with the inclusion of the province's offshore oil royalties in the equation.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
Residents of Ward 8 in Hamilton are likely to be back at the polls once again after city councillors voted Wednesday to hold a byelection there to replace former councillor John-Paul Danko, who was recently elected as a member of parliament.
Work on Windsor's large Banwell Road interchange and corridor construction projects is currently on hold after Butler's gartersnakes were discovered.
Etched on a poster board the size of her body, Mary McPherson held up a pencil-drawn portrait of Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
One of the largest old elm trees in Toronto — possibly in all of southern Ontario — is on its last legs.
It's graduation week for many University of Guelph students, but it's a particularly special day for one 68-year-old whose walk across the convocation stage was 49 years in the making.
Scientists on Prince Edward Island have created a new warning system to help Maritime farmers avoid a costly disease called fusarium head blight, which can decrease grain yields while contaminating the crop with toxins.
An N.W.T. deputy minister says the territorial government is hoping to use federal housing money to clear derelict homes from communities.
WARNING: This article contains graphic details, references sexual assault and may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone impacted by it.
Monique Gordon's second-floor apartment in Rexdale is sweltering hot all year-round — even in the winter.
As Fanshawe works toward reducing its staff by more than a third, the college announced Thursday that 40 jobs have been eliminated through downsizing, early retirements and unfilled vacant positions.
Newfoundland and Labrador has unveiled a new online crime dashboard allowing users, with a click of a button, to see how their own communities rate against one another when it comes to violence.
Nova Scotia's whirlwind push to establish a uranium sector has yielded zero bids from companies interested in exploring for the critical mineral, a fact that left Premier Tim Houston unfazed Thursday and opponents of the industry relieved.