Oh, about $800 million or so.
N.S. to get $870M from feds in Crown share dispute
Nova Scotia will be receiving a windfall of about $870 million as part of a deal resolving the Crown share dispute over offshore oil royalties with the federal government.
... [N.S. Premier] MacDonald spoke to CTV Newsnet Sunday and said that the deal puts to rest a dispute that goes back to 1986, when Ottawa promised to compensate the province for giving up its ownership interest in offshore oil and gas revenues.
"I can't tell you how excited I am, not only for today's announcement, but for what it means for the future of our province," he said.
I'll bet you are. Still, $870 million is a big chunk of change. Gee, I wonder how the Conservatives are going to pay for all that...
Sask. drops legal challenge of equalization
Saskatchewan's government is dropping a court challenge of the federal equalization program, saying the case has been "the elephant in the room" in talks with Ottawa.
The government will withdraw a reference the previous NDP administration made to the provincial Court of Appeal, Saskatchewan Party Justice Minister Don Morgan said Thursday.
Morgan said the challenge has been hampering federal-provincial negotiations.
... There have also been suggestions from Prime Minister Stephen Harper that Saskatchewan drop the case. Premier Brad Wall has said Harper "made it clear" in a meeting in January that the legal challenge should be withdrawn. Wall said he took it under advisement.
... At stake is about $800 million in federal transfers annually, according to provincial calculations.
Mind you, that's $800 million per year, so there should still be plenty left over to buy BC, the rest of the Maritimes, and whatever they can bribe out of Ontario and Quebec.
As I mentioned in the comments over at Garth's place, the west doesn't need Stephane Dion and the Liberals to screw them. The Conservatives they keep electing are doing a fine job of fucking them over already.
Whooee! What's really surprising me is that hardly anyone has noted that the $870 mil is a holdover from the NEP. While Harper et all are running around Alberta fearmongering about GreenShift=NEP2, the reality is that Harper has revitalized NEP 1. And the only reason he's brought the zombie back to life is to transfer wealth to NS.
ReplyDelete"The Crown share issue dates from the 1980s' National Energy Program and has been dormant for 20 years. Under the NEP, Nova Scotia gained a potential ownership stake in energy projects on Canadian lands off its shores. Successive governments have argued that when the NEP was dismantled in the mid-1980s, the Crown share went with it. But Nova Scotia has argued consistently that it should be compensated for loss of potential profits."
National Post, July 7, 2008
Ivison, no less.
I wonder how the West will react once they realize their golden boy is reviving Trudeau's hated NEP.
JB
I don't think Nova Scotia will change their voting segment dramatically based on this move. But it'll be interesting to see how it plays in the polls.
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