HALIFAX—Atlantic Canada’s dependency on federal spending—equaling over a quarter of the regional economy—leaves it vulnerable to any significant change in transfers from Ottawa, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan, Canadian public policy think-tank.
“The economic crisis in the energy sector, particularly in Alberta and Saskatchewan, may shake the foundations of transfers from Ottawa to the provinces,’ said Fred McMahon, a resident fellow at the Fraser Institute and author of Fiscal Federalism and the Dependency of Atlantic Canada.
