Quote:
Originally Posted by GGG
I think there is a good discussion around things like non market sale of hydro electric resources in Manitoba which lowers royalty production and potential capacity of extractive industries versus installed capacities. Essentially if you want to participate you should be developing natural resources you have access to.
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I will admit my knowledge of the intricacies of equalization is lacking (however, i would argue most people who complain about it know even less).
I don't personally think it's fair to provinces and voters to withhold money because they are not developing resources - it should be the voters' choice (think eastern slopes mining in Alberta); but, i believe, the idea of equalization is based on fiscal capacity.
So couldn't the potential revenues of a certain resource project count as fiscal capacity of that province? It would be horribly confusing and a bastard to try to calculate, though