The equalization formula that gives provinces their fair share from the federal government has come under fire lately for all the wrong reasons.

The media have enjoyed feasting on the alleged rift between certain provinces and the federal government. Even our premier is trying to paint Ottawa as the villain on the equalization issue. By only telling half the truth, however, he is misleading the people of Saskatchewan.

While the premier tries to score a few public relations points, he may be losing the battle for fairness, integrity and accuracy. As his popularity suffers heading into a provincial election, the premier seems content to use this important issue as a diversion to cover up his government’s previous fiscal management and huge provincial debt.

Three years ago when we raised the issue of transfer payments, Saskatchewan was a “have-not” province. If the previous government had fixed the transfer formula at that time, Saskatchewan would have received an additional $800 million.

Now, the economy in Saskatchewan has improved greatly and under the new formula that the prime minister is trying to implement, our province would receive less money. Rather than disrespecting the new equalization formula that could create other problems in Canada, the prime minister allocated an additional $878 million in new funding for Saskatchewan. The premier must be terrified that the people of Saskatchewan will take time to do the math.

My hope is that the people who live in our province will see through the political posturing offered by those speaking so vocally against our initiative. Obviously, when the previous government had a chance to fix the problem, they failed to even recognize there was one.

While no subsidy system is ever perfect, our government has tried to keep the “equal” in equalization. We committed to bringing in a new equalization formula and we listened to the independent O’Brien commission on how to make the system fair and equitable to all parties.

Saskatchewan is poised to receive a record total of $1.4 billion in federal funding from the new budget. In addition to the $848 million in new funding that I’ve already mentioned, our province is going to receive:

• $250 million for farming families
• $180 million for the Iogen biofuels project
• $92 million in tax relief to keep money your pockets
• $75 million for infrastructure like roads and waterlines
• $10 million for the police research centre

Every Saskatchewan member of Parliament in our party has worked hard to deliver on the commitment to fully exclude our natural resources as a bargaining tool. We are doing our best to ensure this province gets its due, and a close examination of the federal budget reveals that our voices were heard.

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