‘Provincial governments pretty much everywhere have gotten far too used to using the Crown corps as a sort of ATM machine,’ said Dosanjh
“Provincial governments pretty much everywhere have gotten far too used to using the Crown corps as a sort of ATM machine,” said Dosanjh.
Dosanjh said that provinces have become addicted to the revenues that flow into their coffers from profitable government-controlled sectors like alcohol, gambling and insurance.
“These are corporations that make humungous amounts of money, and governments of all stripes divert that money into general revenue every now and then,” said Dosanjh.
“Speaking very generally, the provincial Crowns are there because they’re a means for provinces to exert power over their regions,” said Bird.
“You go to an LCBO and there’s an unbelievable diversity of products that you will not find in virtually any other jurisdiction,” said Bird.
Bird noted that Quebec has an especially long history of using Crown corporations as province-building vehicles.
“Hydro‑Québec’s contribution to the provincial government’s revenue was just $4 billion last year, which was less than one per cent of the province’s GDP,” noted Giguère.
He conceded that meaningful reform in Quebec’s electricity sector will still be hard to come by.
“Anything that involves Hydro‑Québec will be difficult,” said Giguère.
“There’s still a hard-wired national story we tell ourselves that Hydro‑Québec is the engine of our prosperity and driver of our economy.”
“If provinces step up and say we’re prepared to take this hit, I think it’s only fair for the federal government to help soften the blow,” said Dosanjh.
Trevor Tombe, an economist at the University of Calgary, says Poilievre’s free trade bonus would be a smart way for the federal government to get around its lack of formal jurisdiction over provincial competition policies.
“It’s encouraging to see this particular proposal is putting on the table what the feds do have, and that’s spending power,” said Tombe.
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