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Conrad Black: Reform of Canada’s Equalization Program Is Sorely Needed

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Conrad Black: Reform of Canada’s Equalization Program Is Sorely Needed
Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey in St. John's, in a file photo. The province is taking Ottawa to court over the equalization program. The Canadian Press/Andrew Vaughan
Conrad Black
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Commentary

Once again, the equalization program is being challenged by a number of provinces that feel themselves to be short-changed by it. This was always a program that was going to invite controversy and set individual provinces against each other. It was set up initially by the government of Louis St. Laurent in 1955 and 1956 as a response to Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis’s imposition of a provincial income tax.

Conrad Black
Conrad Black
Author
Conrad Black has been one of Canada’s most prominent financiers for 40 years and was one of the leading newspaper publishers in the world. He’s the author of authoritative biographies of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Richard Nixon, and, most recently, “Donald J. Trump: A President Like No Other,” which has been republished in updated form. Follow Conrad Black with Bill Bennett and Victor Davis Hanson on their podcast Scholars and Sense.