Regardless of where you live in Canada, you can be certain of one thing: we all pay federal taxes (even Quebec - although they pay their tax directly to the provincial government). If you make 40 thousand per year in Cape Breton, you pay the same federal tax as you would making 40 thousand per year in Alberta. That line of thought continues into services too - in Canada, you are supposed to be able to get more or less the same health care across the country, same education, etc. The federal government makes sure this happens by transferring extra money to provinces with a poor economy - a program we call "equalization". This effectively means that while Albertans don't actually pay MORE federal tax, some of the tax they do pay ends up being used elsewhere in the country - because Albertans are, in general, much more wealthy due to their vast natural resources. Is this fair? Well, that depends on your personal politics - but our Premier certainly thinks so. After former Saskatchewan Premier (and noted hot-air manufacturer) Brad Wall recently implied that provinces like Nova Scotia don't deserve equalization, McNeil responded with the following quote: “He looks for an opportunity for a headline any chance he gets. But to be perfectly frank, it doesn’t help the national debate. If you look back historically, there’s been many provinces (i.e. Saskatchewan) who at some point in time have relied on equalization and that was the intention of equalization.” Basically, McNeil believes that in Canada, good economies should help suffering economies get back on their feet, because all economies can experience hard times. But if this is what McNeil believes... why doesn't it apply to Nova Scotia, too? I mean... its really not all that complicated. If you are one of the roughly 400 thousand people that live in Halifax (by far the richest part of the province) you receive FAR better government services than you do if you're one of the over half-million people anywhere else in the province. Not only does this keep relatively well-populated areas like the CBRM poor, it keeps Nova Scotia receiving equalization payments. If the provincial economy was as strong as it is in Halifax... we wouldn't receive equalization payments. If Brad Wall could stop blowing hot air and actually focus for a minute, that might be a more effective line of criticism. The centralization of health care and educational services is obvious - if you want a major health care procedure performed, you need to go to Halifax. Does your child need to see an educational specialist? Well, you need to go to Halifax. It's no great secret to us that provincial services are centralized around Halifax intentionally, to encourage people to centralize in the HRM (and thus be cheaper to serve than those in Yarmouth or Cape Breton). However, it goes deeper than that - let's look at public transportation. Haligonians benefit from a robust public transit system with a 115 million dollar operating budget (roughly equivalent to the entire operating budget of the CBRM) one that unites their scattered communities into a single, strong economy. Over 275$ per person is spent on Halifax Transit - and it is an effective, community-building tool. What about the CBRM? Well, we don't actually have a separate transit system (ours is lumped into the public works department - we lack the funding to administrate it properly), so these numbers aren't easily found. However, in a recent article I'd done about transit, the Mayor's office was kind enough to provide me with CBRM Transit's annual operating budget: 3.9 million dollars, or a little less than 42$ per person. Most other places in the province have no public or subsidized transit to speak of. Keep going down the list, and you'll find more of the same. Property taxes? Much higher in the CBRM (and as was pointed out to me recently, thanks to the "Municipal Government Act", we don't even have control over HOW we tax ourselves!). Road repair? Snow removal? Trash removal? Senior care? Police and firefighting? Permits and Bylaws? Addiction services? ALL of these services (both municipal and provincial) are better funded and more effective... in Halifax. So let's get back to equalization for a moment - imagine you're an Albertan. Nova Scotia's Premier tells you "everyone needs equalization at some point, to help those down on their luck pull themselves back up". Then you go to Nova Scotia, and you see wildly unequal services across that province, with the wealthy parts of the province receiving better services at the expense of the poor areas... which keeps the overall economy weak... and keeps them qualifying for transfer payments. What would you think? You'd probably think Premier McNeil is a giant hypocrite. And you know what? You'd be right.