A day after a taxpayer advocacy group called for provincial equalization to be phased out, Conservative leadership candidate Jean Charest pledged reforms to the program to satisfy Alberta.
As politicians converged in Calgary for the annual Stampede festival which kicked off on July 7, Canadian Taxpayers Federation federal director Franco Terrazzano said Ottawa should wind down its long-standing program that gives tax dollars to underperforming provinces.
“Sometimes the only right thing to do with a bad idea is put it out to pasture. Instead of tinkering around the edges, Conservative Party leader hopefuls should commit to phasing out equalization,” Terrazzano wrote in a July 6 opinion article published online in the Western Standard. The next day, Charest told the Western Standard he would make an accord with Alberta within a month of becoming prime minister….