Four nominally conservative premiers convened in Ottawa yesterday to once again bravely demand that the federal government give them more money for healthcare and infrastructure, and to not attach any strings to it. In total, they demanded at least $28 billion more per year for healthcare, $10 billion for infrastructure, and retroactive reforms to fiscal stabilization that would give Alberta another $6 billion. Of course, two of those premiers – Jason Kenney and Brian Pallister – were in the Harper government when health transfers were unilaterally cut, to which we must also offer the reminder that the numbers at the time show that provincial health spending was not rising nearly as fast as the health transfer escalator, which means that the money was going to other things, no matter how much the provinces denied it. As well, most provinces have not actually been spending the current infrastructure dollars that are on the table for one reason or another (some of which have been petty and spiteful), so why demand more when they already aren’t spending what’s there.

As for Alberta’s demand for retroactive fiscal stabilization, one should also add the caveat that the current formula asserts a certain amount of moral risk for provinces who rely too heavily on resource revenues for their provincial coffers – that they should be looking at other forms of revenue (like sales taxes) so that they aren’t so exposed to the vagaries of things like world oil prices. Retroactively changing the formula means that the federal government becomes their insurance for the risks they undertook on their own balance sheets, which hardly seems fair to the other provinces in confederation, who have to pay higher provincial taxes.

And then Kenney dropped this little claim:

Kenney: our ability at the prov level to pay for the quality of healthcare is increasingly limited. This is more desperate in Alberta than maybe anywhere else given the decline in the economy.

— Rosemary Barton (@RosieBarton) September 18, 2020

This is patently untrue. The province still has tremendous fiscal capacity because they still have the highest per capita incomes in the country and the lowest taxation. Sure, that fiscal capacity has diminished, but not that much. The province’s deficit is a policy choice because they refuse to implement a modest sales tax that could actually pay for the services that Kenney is now in the process of slashing, having ordered up a report to tell him that they have a spending problem instead of a revenue problem. Err, and then he spent billions on a money-losing refinery and another pipeline that will actually make said refinery an even bigger money-loser. So no, the quality of healthcare in his province isn’t being jeopardized by the state of his economy – it’s because he won’t stabilize his revenues (and because he’s launching an ill-conceived war against the doctors in his province in the middle of a global pandemic, because he’s strategic like that).

Yes and no. Mostly no. Our fiscal capacity has declined significantly this year, certainly, as have others. But Alberta remains above average, but probably lost its number one spot. Now 2nd or (*maybe*) 3rd place (too soon to know for sure).

Fixing AB budget requires AB action. https://t.co/8onwQOM23h

— Trevor Tombe (@trevortombe) September 18, 2020

Good reads:

• Erin O’Toole and Yves-François Blanchet have both tested positive for COVID-19, and will be forced to isolate for at least two weeks, missing the Throne Speech.
• Justin Trudeau announced that the by-elections in Toronto Centre and York Centre will be held on October 26^th.
• Ahmed Hussen says that the federal government may invest in some new housing projects, paying the capital costs if the provinces can provide the social services.
• The president of the Public Health Agency of Canada has resigned, citing the personal toll that the pandemic has taken on her.
• The former Commissioner of Competition agrees that Parliament needs to adopt more stringent legislation about wage-fixing like we saw with “pandemic pay.”
• The CMHC is planning to change their name to reflect that they do more about housing affordability than just home ownership and insurance.
• Here’s a look at the federal government’s balancing act in trying to work on a green recovery while not abandoning the oil and gas sector.
• In advance of his meeting with Justin Trudeau, Jagmeet Singh engaged in some ritualized chest-thumping about his demands for the next parliamentary session.
• Economist Lindsay Tedds pans BC’s Economic Recovery Plan as meek, unambitious, and lacking in GBA+ analysis.
• Colby Cosh checks in with the CBC’s lawsuit against the Conservatives for using unauthorized clips in election ads.
• My weekend column looks at how Trudeau is pleading to allow remote voting, which is a Pandora’s box of future central control, instead of sequestering MPs.

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