After months listening to Ontario politicians and the national media crying a river about how Ontario has had to stoop to collecting equalization payments, I believe I’ve finally figured out what all the fuss is about.
The shame they are now wearing on their sleeve hasn't come to them because Ontario’s economy is on a downswing. It is, but that can happen anywhere.
It’s not even that Ontario doesn’t want to accept handouts from Ottawa, they do it all the time in other ways.
No, the reason for Ontario’s new found state of mental depression is that the province don’t like to receive their handouts in such a transparent and public way.
You see doing so makes it very difficult to continue pretending that Ontario is somehow better than the rest of Canada.
How many of us remember the words of Ontario’s interim Tory leader, Bob Runciman, when he told the Globe and Mail, “I think it’s a very sad day in the history of this province that we’re now going on the dole”?
What about references made in the Ontario Legislature to the effect that Ontario is now a “have not” province while, “Newfoundland and Labrador is not. Look how low we’ve sunk”. Clearly statements intended to use Canada’s favorite whipping boy, Newfoundland and Labrador, as a means to show just how sad it was that Ontario was about to receive equalization payments.
With equalization now a reality for Ontario the province is screaming to change the way the system works or even to scrap it completely. They wonder how the people of Ontario can possible continue their good work of subsidizing the rest of Canada through their tax dollars if they have to pay themselves out of that pot. It's like someone forgot to tell them that people in other parts of Canada (equalization receiving or not) also pay federal taxes and fund transfers.
The fact of the matter is that the $347 million in equalization payments Ontario will receive this year is a drop in the bucket when it comes to that province’s overall budget, yet to read the editorials, comments and news stories you’d think Ottawa transferring those funds to the province was a slap in the face rather than a simple financial exchange.
Equalization is simply one of many federal transfers to the provinces, including Ontario, that are funded by tax revenue, everybody’s tax revenue both inside and outside the self proclaimed "Center of the Universe".
Billions in Health transfers flow to Ontario each year but they don't make politicians spout off about how hard times have gotten.
Gas tax transfers don’t either, neither does funding for highways or education or infrastructure.
Oddly enough, no fuss is made even after the most blatant handouts Ontario receives on a regular basis. Handouts like the recent multi-billion dollar payoff meant to convince Ontario to harmonize its sales taxes with the feds. Something that other provinces received absolutely nothing for doing just a few years back.
Does Ontario hide its head in shame when billions in infrastructure stimulus are offered to them? Of course not! Instead every politician at Queens Park lines up for a chance to get in on the requisite photo op that accompanies any such announcement.
What about the billions being poured into Ontario’s auto industry these days? How shameful is that when forestry workers, fishermen and others across Canada are being ignored by Ottawa?
Apparently there is no shame when those sorts of bailouts takes place so why the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the so called “dole” or equalization?
Is it really about Ontario’s self professed pride in “helping” the rest of Canada or about the desperate need to lord their “generous” nature over what are perceived to be lesser provinces and peoples, a sort of holier than thou scenario.
I suspect it’s the latter.
Certain small minded individuals often make themselves feel good by ridiculing others but when you have to walk a mile in someone else's shoes and once those shoes are stepping out in a very public way, it changes everything.
Some readers may view this commentary as a serious case of Ontario bashing. It isn't intended to be. In fact I see it as something of a long overdue reality check. After all, it surely can't be easy to look down your nose at yourself.
