Saskatchewan applies to intervention in the Terranova equalization challenge

The Saskatchewan government announced Wednesday, wants to add your voice to a judicial case about Canada’s equalization formula.

The Saskatchewan Ministry of Justice said it was requested earlier this month to intervene in Newfoundland and Labrador’s challenge against the equalization formula used by Ottawa. The challenge must be heard in the Superior Court of that province on October 20.

The formula determines federal payments to provincial governments to ensure that comparable public service levels are available throughout the country at similar levels of taxes.

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The Saskatchewan government states that the inclusion of income from resources makes the formula unfair. According to a list of the Canada government, the “fiscal capacity of natural resources”, Saskatchewan would have fallen below the average fiscal capacity used to determine who obtains money of equalization.

The Federal Government said on its website that the fiscal capacity of a province is what could raise whether it was imposed on the national average rate.

The formula, said the provincial government, also “does not take into account the structural costs of providing public services” and excessively exaggerates the recipients through the distribution of surplus payments. These are similar to some of what Newfoundland and Labrador have mentioned in their claim statement.

He The Saskatchewan government has long mentioned Problems like these and more in the long frustration with the program.

According to the provincial government, the average Canadian pays $ 634 per year in the $ 26 billion program, which adds a total of $ 786 million of Saskatchewan taxpayers.

Tim McLeod, the Minister of Justice of Saskatchewan, said in a press release that the formula “has constantly failed” in his planned objective of creating justice throughout Canada.

“Like Newfoundland and Labrador, we have serious concerns with the current formula, which has repeatedly punished provinces with strong natural resources sectors such as Saskatchewan,” he said.

Saskatchewan has not received payments during the last 18 years.

“Four other provinces will receive almost $ 3,000 per resident in 2025-26, while Saskatchewan, Alberta and Columbia Britanic receives nothing. This barely seems equitable, even for the most basic standards, ”McLeod added.

The last government of the NDP Saskatchewan had launched a lawsuit against the program in 2007, similarly frustrated on the way in which income from natural resources were discussed in the formula.

The suit analyzes whether the act around equalization takesProperty of Askatchewan of non -renewable resources and interferes with their ability to administer them, a Saska theme. The party’s government has taken seriously in recent years.

He also questioned whether the formula, which had recently been amended at that time, violated the Constitution.

The Lorne Calvert government was defeated in an election shortly after and the new Sask. The party government withdrew the challenge the following summer, saying that it was causing problems in negotiations with the federal government.

This month, Pierre Polievre told Radio-Canadá, if his party forms the government after what is expected to be a federal spring election, it would not make big changes in the federal equalization program.