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Did the Trudeau government pull a fast one on the provinces, as political leaders in Alberta and Saskatchewan contend, stealthily renewing the equalization program for another five years without change, debate or even so much as a heads-up? Or were the provinces kept fully apprised throughout, as Finance officials reply, not only in correspondence but face-to-face meetings?

Who can say? I suspect the truth, as usual, is somewhere in between: that the feds gave at least some notice of their intentions — why, it’s all there in a note on page 319 of a 369-page federal budget — but weren’t much vexed if no one happened to pick it up.

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What is certain is that it has handed provincial politicians another excuse to parade their long-held grievances about equalization, the usual farrago of half-truths and out-and-out myths, now infused with accusations of skullduggery and bad faith.

This eternal flame of resentment is not confined, by the way, to the provinces that do not receive payments under the federal program, the so-called “have” provinces: politicians in the recipient or “have-not” provinces are just as prone to go on about the injustice done to them by the meagre allowances to which they are entitled, which after all totally fail to take into account Factor A and Variable B as outlined in Appendix C…