Ontario pays $23 billion more into Canada than it receives in federal-government services, Choudhry wrote, "an astonishing and potentially explosive figure." The surprise, he wrote, is that "in the war of numbers that characterizes the politics of fiscal federalism, this figure has never been mentioned in public." Why? Choudhry says it's because Canadians understand that co-operation is fundamental to the country's success, and inter-regional bickering undermines that co-operation.
But now the explosive cat is out of the bag. McGuinty is telling anyone who'll listen that the rest of Canada is into Ontario's pocket to the tune of more than $20 billion a year. Simply saying so will increase regional conflict. Choudhry argues two other issues will add fuel to the fire.
After the last federal election someone from Alberta asked why Ontario never complained about equalization payments like Albertans often do. I suspect it was mainly because we didn't know. Well as Paul said, the cat's out of the bag now and Dalton McGuinty realizes the political mileage he can get out of it. Think about it, $23 billion dollars. Holy. Moley. That's, like, almost 12 gun registries! Wow!
Seriously, this could be the nail in Confederation's coffin. And while I weep for the death of the ideal of Canada, I don't know if I can weep for the reality.
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