Federalism's free lunch

[GAP]

When Bernier first came out with the suggestion, I wondered if it was just a jab at Steve, but looking at it from Lorne Gunter's POV.......not so sure..... oh, and I still think it was a jab.....

Federalism's free lunch
http://www.nationalpost.com/todays-paper/Federalism+free+lunch/3709475/story.html
Lorne Gunter, National Post · Friday, Oct. 22, 2010

Maxime Bernier is right: End transfer payments to the provinces. Let Ottawa give them greater room to tax their own residents, but let provincial legislatures also have to make the tough choice to increase taxes on their own citizens if the politicians want to spend more on health, education, welfare and other provincial functions Ottawa is now subsidizing.

Consider, for instance, that the PEI government is contemplating eliminating tuition for the more than 5,000 Islanders who attend one of the province's two post-secondary schools, University of Prince Edward Island and Holland College.

After having faced protests this past spring up over planned tuition hikes (and with the potential of facing voters sometime next year), Premier Robert Ghiz launched the free-tuition trial balloon this week.

Speaking to the Summerside Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Ghiz was mostly musing when he said "When you look at post-secondary education, it's still a privilege to attend an institution," but "I think we need to make it more of a right. Some European nations today have made post-secondary education tuition-free in a lot of those jurisdictions." His government has no immediate plans to eliminate fees to attend UPEI or Holland College, but the premier said he could see it happening over the next decade as part of a way to increase access to higher learning for the Island's young people.

Fine, if that is something you can get Island voters behind, go for it, Mr. Premier.

The only problem is, why should taxpayers in other provinces have to fund this newfound Island right to higher education? Why should taxpayers in have provinces, who send billions annually to

governments in have-not provinces, have to fund the transfers that will help eliminate tuition in PEI, while their own kids struggle to pay the tuition of public institutions in their own provinces?

That is why Mr. Bernier is right. If the PEI government had the obligation to pay for its dreams on its own, there would be no dispute. I might have an opinion about free tuition (it encourages perpetual studenthood), but, as the resident of a have province (Alberta), I would have no stake in it. I could offer advice, but would have no grounds to oppose Mr. Ghiz's idea.

 

[Edward Campbell]

Of course Bernier is right, but such a move would require that Canadians, en masse, would actually believe in and respect their constitution. So it's never gonna happen - Canadians are, inexplicably but ignorantly, happy with the rob Peter/pay Paul nonsense that we call fiscal federalism. Equalization is now, thanks to the Supremes, enshrined in our constitution. Premier Ghiz is, consequently, constitutionally welcome to rob Alberta to pay for PEI student's tuition.

 

[TimBit]

I am not so sure it is enshrined actually. I would have to pull my dusty constitution from the bookshelf and look, but I think it is more a customary practice than anything else. I, for one, would welcome it, but if and only if the exact same amount is cut in federal taxes. Otherwise, then it will just end in more taxation once the provinces do the inevitable tax hike.

 

[Retired AF Guy]

I am not so sure it is enshrined actually. I would have to pull my dusty constitution from the bookshelf and look, but I think it is more a customary practice than anything else. I, for one, would welcome it, but if and only if the exact same amount is cut in federal taxes. Otherwise, then it will just end in more taxation once the provinces do the inevitable tax hike.

From the Dept. of Finance website:

The purpose of the program was entrenched in the Canadian Constitution in 1982:

"Parliament and the government of Canada are committed to the principle of making equalization payments to ensure that provincial governments have sufficient revenues to provide reasonably comparable levels of public services at reasonably comparable levels of taxation."  (Subsection 36(2) of the Constitution Act, 1982)

 

[GR66]

Unfortunately until such a time as Canadians are willing to seriously re-examine the fundamental principles on which we want to base our evolving society we're going to have our hands tied behind our back in any serious efforts to meet the challenges we are facing in the modern world.  The world is a TOTALLY different place than it was in 1867 and even very different than it was in 1982. 

A Constitution is meant to be a living document but unfortunately it only seems to "evolve" from the fixed point of 1867.  You can add on to the existing foundation but there's no option of moving to a new house altogether.  I'm not sure that we as a society have the collective balls to ask these fundamental questions and face the risks of a real debate about real issues.  Has any society ever been strong enough to do so without first requiring a revolution to overthrow the existing system first?  It sure would be nice to think that we could be the first!

Glenn

PS.  I'm not suggesting that there the original and existing Constitutions have no value or importance...just that we shouldn't be so afraid of re-examining and debating some of the original assumptions on which it was based.

 

[TimBit]

From the Dept. of Finance website:

The purpose of the program was entrenched in the Canadian Constitution in 1982:

"Parliament and the government of Canada are committed to the principle of making equalization payments to ensure that provincial governments have sufficient revenues to provide reasonably comparable levels of public services at reasonably comparable levels of taxation."  (Subsection 36(2) of the Constitution Act, 1982)

There you go! Thank you for pointing it out, I stand enlightened.