The current row over equalization payments is not, as the Prime Minister suggests, about Ontario wanting to refuse the poorer provinces a fair deal.
No one objects to the poorer provinces increasing in wealth. The objection is that the Prime Minister has arbitrarily used the equalization program to cut special deals with some provinces for his own political gain. The issue is not about being fair or unfair to Ontario, Saskatchewan or any other province. It's about using the equalization program -- enshrined in our Constitution -- as a political pawn.
The more the program's rules are suddenly and arbitrarily changed for political purposes, the weaker and more farcical the program becomes.
Todd Hirsch