TORONTO—As traditional “have” provinces struggle economically, Canada’s equalization program is not equipped to adapt to the country’s new economic landscape, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
“The economic gap between so-called have and have-not provinces has shrunk, but equalization payments are required to keep growing automatically no matter how much provinces like Alberta and Saskatchewan are struggling,” said Ben Eisen, co-author of Should Equalization Keep on Growing in an Era of Converging Fiscal Capacity?
