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On the other hand, Ontario’s $1,403 per person help from Ottawa is up from $870 per person in 2005-06; the increase is due to Ontario’s six-year, have-not equalization status. It is higher than British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, where the per person transfer to each province is $1,258.

The Ontario government complains its transfers are down, but Newfoundland and Labrador, which will receive $1,282 per person this year, once received $2,992 per person (in 2005-06), back when it collected equalization and offshore accord payments from Ottawa.

Using a wider measurement, Ontario’s finance minister is correct that Ontario taxpayers send much more money to the federal government than Ottawa spends in the province (Ontario is a have-not province for the purpose of equalization but is still a net contributor to Confederation overall).

But according to Statistics Canada, Ontarians are hardly the only ones in that position.

Between 2000 and 2009 (the last year data was available) net federal spending patterns meant, on a per person basis, a family of four in British Columbia was “out” $2,664 compared to $6,192 in Ontario. But on a per person basis, Albertans lose the most. In Alberta, Ottawa collects much more tax than it later spends (including transfers to the provincial government). On average, annually, Albertans suffer a net loss of $15,408 for a family of four (every other province other than those three is a net beneficiary of federal taxing and spending).