Announced on Dec. 15, the latest figure of $23.96 billion represents a $2 billion increase from 2022–23.
Equalization, a federal program that sees the transfer of tax dollars collected by Ottawa from across the country to provinces with lesser ability to raise revenues at given tax rates, will also see Ontario receiving the payment, though the sum is comparably lower than the other receiving provinces.
The latest information released by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland shows that Quebec will receive the most at $14.04 billion, while Manitoba will get $3.51 billion. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island will be paid $2.8 billion, $2.63 billion, and $561 million, respectively.
Ontario trails behind PEI with $421 million, expected to be transferred to the province in 2023–24.
PEI has the highest payment per person at $3,287, followed by New Brunswick ($3,240) and Nova Scotia ($2,749). Manitoba is at the fourth place at $2,491, followed by Quebec at $1,614. Ontario has the lowest at $28 per person.
Equalization was contested by former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, who pledged in the 2019 UCP election campaign to remove the federal program from the Constitution.
A poll conducted last October indicated that over 60 percent of Albertans said “yes” to a fair deal from Ottawa.