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No other province has contributed so much to the rest of Canada via federal taxes and spending. Ontario has a population three-and-half times larger than Alberta, but it only transferred $45 billion to the rest of the country since 2010, just a quarter of Alberta’s handover. (Going back to 1961, Ontarians contributed the largest amount, $722 billion in the 57 years up to 2017, but not the largest per capita).

So who gained the most from Albertans’ money? Quebec got the largest chunk, obviously, with $476 billion dollars in net federal fiscal transfers or $1,172 per Quebecer since 1961. It takes the lion’s share of transfers from all the provinces.

But a host of other, much smaller, provinces have also been raking in big money transfers from Confederation since 1961: Nova Scotia, $306 billion, or an average of $6,034 in extra money per resident per year; New Brunswick, $203 billion or an average extra $4,909 per year, per resident; Manitoba, $175 billion, or $2,712 per resident bonus every year; Newfoundland, $172 billion, or $5,501 per resident per year.

But on a per capita basis, the biggest winner has been Prince Edward Island. With a population barely even half that of Regina, P.E.I. has over 57 years collected an average of $8,478 for every Islander, furnished by other provinces. A good chunk of it, of course, from Alberta.

Now, Albertans know they have been graced with natural resources that have contributed to their wealth. And Canadians outside Alberta routinely use that fact to rationalize why they think it’s only fair, therefore, that Alberta should be made to share its wealth. But that’s not the whole story. And Albertans know it.