Quebec Calling: "Hey Alberta... Thanks for All of Those Secure Public Sector Jobs"

Canada's equalization plan, which sees the federal government transferring billions of dollars annually to the so-called have-not provinces, allows provinces to pursue all manner of anti-business policies without suffering the full financial penalty.

The reason? As anti-business policies shrink a province's tax base, more money flows to the province through the federal government from the have provinces. The have-not province is therefore able to offset some, and perhaps all, of the consequences of its actions by forcing other provinces to pay for the problem it caused.

The provinces sending the money suffer by having their businesses and residents pay taxes higher than would be the case if they did not have to pay for the anti-business policies of the receiving province.

For decades, Quebec has been the leading province in pursuing anti-business policies. From forcing English-speaking businesses and entrepreneurs out of the province, to high taxes, to the strongest pro-union regulations combined with the constant threat of separation from Canada, Quebec would be a much poorer province if it were not for massive federal transfer payments.

The current equalization plan is officially justified on the basis that it ensures a certain minimum level of public services in all provinces. The reality, however, is that Quebec provides a level of public services that is higher than in any of the other provinces, including the have provinces that send billions to Quebec year after year.

One example of this higher level of public services is found in the public school system (other examples will be provided in future posts). Quebec has a student-to-teacher ratio that is 21% lower than B.C.'s, 18% lower than Alberta's, and 8% lower than Ontario's (these three provinces typically being the have provinces). It is widely accepted that a lower student-to-teacher ratio results in a better education for students.

The other side of the lower student-to-teacher ratio is that Quebec, proportionally, employs significantly more teachers that does Alberta, B.C. or Ontario. Those extra jobs are part of Quebec's far-reaching, 100% unionized public sector where job security is way of life.

So on behalf of Quebec, thank you Alberta (and Ontario and B.C. for that matter) for giving us less crowded classrooms and more jobs immune from layoffs.

Good luck with the recession by the way.




Note: The public school system is defined as including elementary and secondary schools. Data on student-teacher ratios are for the 2005-06 school year and are prepared by Statistics Canada.