OTTAWA—Queen’s Park wants a review of Ottawa’s equalization transfer program after not receiving a payment for the first time in a decade, but federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau says that Ontario and other provinces unhappy with how the funding is doled out will have to wait.

Morneau met with his provincial counterparts in Ottawa for a Sunday dinner and a daylong session Monday for discussions that included coming enhancements to the Canada Pension Plan and the state of the economy, including a presentation by Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz.

Oil was also on the agenda as Alberta pushed its case for federal funding to buy tanker cars. While the issue of carbon pricing was not, Ontario Finance Minister Vic Fedeli said he still spoke out to register the province’s objections to the federal program.

“We’re very concerned that the federal government continues to push toward a carbon tax ... when the people of Ontario have spoken very loudly,” Fedeli said.

The federal carbon pricing program will apply to Ontario in the new year after the newly elected Progressive Conservative government dismantled the province’s cap-and-trade program meant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Ahead of the ministerial meeting, the federal finance department publicly confirmed that Ottawa will transfer $78.7 billion to the provinces and territories in 2019-20, including $19.8 billion in equalization payments.

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The equalization payments will go to five provinces — Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba and Quebec, which will collect the lion’s share at $13 billion — prompting some of those left out calling for change.

Ontario will get $21.3 billion from Ottawa in 2019-20 for health and social programs but no equalization payment, which was $963 million in 2018-19.

Fedeli echoed a complaint of past governments at Queen’s Park — that Ontario sends Ottawa billions of dollars more in taxes than it gets back in transfers.

“The federal government should be turning more of that money over to the provinces to cover health care and other issues ... so we see an inequity from the federal government,” Fedeli told reporters after the meeting. “We’ve asked for a review.”

Alberta also wants to see the equalization terms revisited, saying the program has provided no relief in the recent years even as the province suffered the economic shock caused by the sharp drop in oil prices.

“I’ve raised it every time I come here. We need to see a better deal ... it doesn’t work for Alberta,” said Joe Ceci, the province’s finance minister.

Morneau was unmoved by the complaints around equalization, saying the program was just renewed and that any chances would have to wait when it next comes up for renewal in four years.

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“We will continue to be open to these discussions, recognizing that as the country changes, we will need to think about whether that approach is working in the way that it was intended,” Morneau said.

But the federal finance minister stressed that the purpose of equalization transfers was to help ensure an equal level of social and health services across the country, not to provide a buffer against economic shocks.

That, he said, was the purpose of the fiscal stabilization program, noting payouts to Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador in recent years.

“These two programs are for different intent,” he said.

Alberta came away empty-handed in its push to get Ottawa to help pay for rail tanker cars to move oil to market as a stopgap measure in the face of pipeline delays.

Ceci sought to sell his counterparts on moving crude by rail, saying he talked about the issue “repeatedly.” He said there was “significantly” more time spent talking about oil and its impact on the Canadian economy at the meeting.

“We’ve decided to step up, buy trains, buy cars and the federal government has a role in deferring those costs for us,” Ceci said.

Morneau said that Ottawa is “open” to the discussions but pointedly said that he sees the federal government’s purchase of the Trans Mountain pipeline with a plan to expand it as the long-term answer to breaking the bottleneck and getting Alberta oil to markets.

“We’ll continue to discuss with them where we might be able to provide assistance recognizing that the biggest and most important thing we can do is continue to focus on the Trans Mountain pipeline,” Morneau said.

He refused to pinned down on whether Ottawa would be prepared to provide funding for the rail car purchases. “We have not come to a conclusion on actions that we may or may not take,” he said.

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