Has Harper Broken Election Promise To Saskatchewan?
During the Federal Election, Stephen Harper promised to fix the Equalization Formula inequity between Saskatchewan and other provinces such as Newfoundland / Labrador and Nova Scotia.
Saskatchewan's Premier Lorne Calvert met today with Prime Minister Harper and no progress was made on the Tory promise. In fact Premier Calvert believes that the election promise may now, officially, be broken.
CBC
The well known blog, 'Vues d’ici' had a very good article in August.
"The Conservatives did indeed campaign on the promise to change equalization by returning to a 10-province standard but exempting non-renewable resources such as oil and gas and other minerals. In case you’re clueless, the current equalization formula uses a 5-province standard and includes non-renewable resources as one of the 33 tax bases used to calcuate how much provinces should get from the program. (For a complete overview of the equalization program, please click here)"
Saskatchewan's Premier Lorne Calvert met today with Prime Minister Harper and no progress was made on the Tory promise. In fact Premier Calvert believes that the election promise may now, officially, be broken.
CBC
The well known blog, 'Vues d’ici' had a very good article in August.
"The Conservatives did indeed campaign on the promise to change equalization by returning to a 10-province standard but exempting non-renewable resources such as oil and gas and other minerals. In case you’re clueless, the current equalization formula uses a 5-province standard and includes non-renewable resources as one of the 33 tax bases used to calcuate how much provinces should get from the program. (For a complete overview of the equalization program, please click here)"
I agree, it's been long enough to conclude that the promise has been broken.
Posted by
Saskboy |
4:12 pm, December 08, 2006
That is a fairly attractive wager ....
Posted by
leftdog |
9:21 pm, December 08, 2006
I like the odds, but I don't bet beer, or any tangible product other than the pride of being right.
Posted by
Saskboy |
12:11 am, December 09, 2006
Hmm, Harper never said $800M I'm sure, he probably used a euphamism for it, since that's what the NDP were tossing around, so if it isn't at least $800M it's not a "broken promise" in political talk.
How about if SK doesn't end up with $400M additional [accounting for a drop in oil prices] funding, and a fixed equalization schedule that doesn't include province owned revenue, before the next election, Leftdog and I have the satisfaction of knowing that Harper isn't as clever as he thinks he is. And the $400M can't be promised again, it has to be delivered or it doesn't count as transferred. The next party might otherwise just claw it back.
Posted by
Saskboy |
9:58 am, December 09, 2006
$200M isn't $400M :-|
Posted by
Saskboy |
8:55 am, January 17, 2007