Sean Amato
CTV News Edmonton
Published Nov. 9, 2021
EDMONTON -
For the first time since the 1960s, Alberta received more in federal spending than its taxpayers sent to Ottawa, but so did every other province.
New data released Tuesday by Statistics Canada showed Alberta's "fiscal gap" in 2020 was a net negative in Ottawa's budget, according to numbers crunched and tweeted by an economics professor based in Calgary.
"The federal spending dramatically increased everywhere, but Alberta saw a larger increase per person than any other province," Trevor Tombe said in an interview with CTV News Edmonton.
But this doesn't necessarily qualify Alberta as a "have not" province.
That label is usually attached to provinces that receive from the equalization program, which is a part of Tombe's "fiscal gap" calculations, but not all of it.
Despite the province's GDP crashing by -7.9 per cent in 2020, Alberta still led the country in wealth generated per person at more than $65,000, just ahead of Saskatchewan.
"There's not a lot to celebrate in today's data. Every single province had their economy contract significantly," Tombe said.
"Us receiving more in federal spending, doesn't mean we are going to qualify for equalization. We don't know yet, but I would bet very strongly that we will not qualify for equalization."
Alberta, B.C. and Ontario were net contributors to fiscal transfers, while the rest were recipients, his data showed.
Tombe doesn't think this will change the "Fair Deal" push in Alberta, but said it does hurt the separatist movement, because it highlights a "pooled risk" of provinces during major world events.
"Because Alberta suffered the most and received the most in federal spending, I think it does illustrate some value of why we're in confederation," he said.
University of Calgary Economics Professor Trevor Tombe on Nov. 9, 2021.
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