Subhead:Albertans aren’t objecting because they pay more taxes. They’re objecting because Alberta contributes roughly the same share of federal revenue as Quebec while receiving barely half the share of federal spending.#
Federalists say Alberta pays more into Confederation because Albertans earn more, that’s just how a progressive tax system works. If that’s all it was, Quebec would receive federal spending roughly in line with what it contributes to Canada’s economy. Except, it doesn’t.
According to a Fraser Institute analysis using Statistics Canada data, Alberta generates 16% of Canada’s GDP, but receives just 9.6% of federal spending. Quebec, meanwhile, generates 19.6% of Canada’s GDP yet receives 19.8% of all federal spending — almost exactly one dollar out of every five Ottawa spends.
The disparity is even more striking when you look at federal revenues. Alberta contributes 15.3% of all federal revenue while Quebec contributes 15.1%. In other words, the two provinces send almost the same share of money to Ottawa.
But when the money comes back, Alberta gets less than one-tenth of federal spending while Quebec receives nearly one-fifth.
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