Federal Support through Major Transfers to Provincial and Territorial Governments

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Communications

News Release

{"id":1,"created_at":"2020-09-02T13:11:36-04:00","updated_at":"2021-02-25T15:07:04-05:00","slug":"COM-2021-001--limits-in-the-growth-of-equalization-payments-net-feds-145b-over-10-years-says-pbo--les-contraintes-sur-la-croissance-de-la-perequation-ont-entraine-des-economies-federales-nettes-de-145-milliards-de-dollars-sur-10-ans-selon-le-dpb","title_en":"Limits in the growth of Equalization payments net feds $14.5B over 10 years, says PBO","title_fr":"Les contraintes sur la croissance de la p\u00e9r\u00e9quation ont entra\u00een\u00e9 des \u00e9conomies f\u00e9d\u00e9rales nettes de 14,5 milliards de dollars sur 10 ans, selon le DPB","body_en":"The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) today released his assessment of federal transfers to provincial and territorial governments over the last decade under the three largest programs: the Canada Health Transfer (CHT), the Canada Social Transfer (CST) and Equalization. \nThe CHT and CST were designed to support provincial and territorial expenses in specific areas. Equalization payments, paid out of federal revenues, are made to provincial governments to address disparities in fiscal capacities between the provinces and are enshrined in the Constitution.\n\nThe report, Federal Support through Major Transfers to Provincial and Territorial Governments, finds that total federal transfers under the CHT, CST and Equalization programs increased from $47.1 billion to $71.7 billion from 2008-09 to 2018-19.\n\n\u201cThe Government realized savings of $14.5 billion over 2010-11 to 2019-20 as a result of limiting the growth in Equalization payments to nominal GDP growth,\u201d says Yves Giroux, PBO. \u201cThis constraint on Equalization growth prevented a significant increase in payments that would have otherwise occurred after the 2009 recession.\u201d\n\nSince 2010-11, six provinces have been ongoing recipients of Equalization payments, while Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia did not receive Equalization payments during this period. On a cumulative basis, Ontario accounted for $8.1 billion of the $14.5 billion in federal savings. Quebec was the next largest contributor, accounting for $4.6 billion of the federal savings.\n\nOver the same period, the CHT increased from 27.7 to 32.3 per cent of provincial-territorial government health spending in CHT-targeted categories. In contrast, most provinces observed a decrease in federal CST support from 13.6 to 13.3 per cent of targeted spending on social services.","body_fr":"Le directeur parlementaire du budget (DPB) a publi\u00e9 aujourd\u2019hui son examen des transferts f\u00e9d\u00e9raux aux gouvernements provinciaux et territoriaux sur dix ans dans le cadre des trois grands programmes : le Transfert canadien en mati\u00e8re de sant\u00e9 (TCS), le Transfert canadien en mati\u00e8re de programmes sociaux et (TCPS) et la p\u00e9r\u00e9quation.\n \nLe TCS et le TCPS ont \u00e9t\u00e9 con\u00e7us pour soutenir les d\u00e9penses des provinces et territoires dans des secteurs particuliers. La p\u00e9r\u00e9quation, financ\u00e9e par les revenus f\u00e9d\u00e9raux, est vers\u00e9e aux gouvernements provinciaux pour compenser les \u00e9carts entre les provinces sur le plan de la capacit\u00e9 fiscale et est inscrite dans la Constitution.\n\nSelon le rapport Soutien f\u00e9d\u00e9ral : Principaux transferts aux gouvernements provinciaux et territoriaux, les transferts f\u00e9d\u00e9raux totaux au titre du TCS, du TCSP et de la p\u00e9r\u00e9quation sont pass\u00e9s de 47,1 milliards de dollars \u00e0 71,7 milliards de dollars de 2008-2009 \u00e0 2018-2019.\n\n\u00ab De 2010-2011 \u00e0 2019-2020, le gouvernement a r\u00e9alis\u00e9 des \u00e9conomies de 14,5 milliards de dollars en limitant la croissance des paiements de p\u00e9r\u00e9quation \u00e0 la croissance du PIB nominal, a d\u00e9clar\u00e9 le DPB, Yves Giroux. Cette contrainte a permis de freiner une hausse importante des versements de p\u00e9r\u00e9quation qui seraient survenus apr\u00e8s la r\u00e9cession de 2009. \u00bb\n\nDepuis 2010-2011, six provinces re\u00e7oivent couramment des paiements de p\u00e9r\u00e9quation, tandis que Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador, la Saskatchewan, l\u2019Alberta et la Colombie-Britannique n\u2019ont re\u00e7u aucun versement de p\u00e9r\u00e9quation durant cette p\u00e9riode. De mani\u00e8re cumulative, sur les 14,5 milliards de dollars d\u2019\u00e9conomies r\u00e9alis\u00e9es par le f\u00e9d\u00e9ral, 8,1 milliards provenaient de l\u2019Ontario. Le Qu\u00e9bec arrive au deuxi\u00e8me rang avec une contribution de 4,6 milliards de dollars.\n\nAu cours de la m\u00eame p\u00e9riode, le TCS s\u2019est accru de de 27,7 \u00e0 32,3 pour cent des d\u00e9penses provinciales-territoriales en sant\u00e9 dans des cat\u00e9gories cibl\u00e9es du TCS. En revanche, la plupart des provinces ont observ\u00e9 une baisse de l\u2019appui f\u00e9d\u00e9ral en mati\u00e8re de TCPS, qui est pass\u00e9e de 13,6 \u00e0 13,3 pour cent des d\u00e9penses cibl\u00e9es en mati\u00e8re de services sociaux.","release_date":"2020-09-03T09:00:00-04:00","is_published":"2021-02-25T15:07:04-05:00","internal_id":"COM-2021-001","permalinks":{"en":{"website":"https:\/\/www.pbo-dpb.ca\/en\/blog\/news-releases--communiques-de-presse\/COM-2021-001--limits-in-the-growth-of-equalization-payments-net-feds-145b-over-10-years-says-pbo--les-contraintes-sur-la-croissance-de-la-perequation-ont-entraine-des-economies-federales-nettes-de-145-milliards-de-dollars-sur-10-ans-selon-le-dpb"},"fr":{"website":"https:\/\/www.pbo-dpb.ca\/fr\/blog\/news-releases--communiques-de-presse\/COM-2021-001--limits-in-the-growth-of-equalization-payments-net-feds-145b-over-10-years-says-pbo--les-contraintes-sur-la-croissance-de-la-perequation-ont-entraine-des-economies-federales-nettes-de-145-milliards-de-dollars-sur-10-ans-selon-le-dpb"}},"pivot":{"publication_id":33,"news_release_id":1}}