Finance Minister Bill Morneau on Monday ruled out changes to Canada’s equalization formula until 2024, rejecting renewed calls from Ontario and western provinces to immediately overhaul the distribution of the transfer payments.

Last spring, the federal Liberal government quietly moved to retain the existing formula for determining equalization transfers for the next five years, drawing criticism from Alberta and Saskatchewan over the lack of consultation. The payments, designed to ensure comparable public services across Canada, are based on estimates of the “fiscal capacity” of each province.

Over the weekend, Finance Canada revealed the amount of money the federal government will transfer to the provinces and territories in 2019-20, including equalization payments. Once again, Quebec stands to take in the lion’s share of the funding, with the province slated to receive more than $13-billion of the $20-billion allotted through the program — an increase of roughly $1.4-billion over the previous year.

For the first time since the 2008 recession, Ontario will not be eligible to receive equalization payments next year. Aside from Quebec, only Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick will receive payments come 2019-20.

Ontario and resource-rich Alberta and Saskatchewan have expressed disappointment with the distribution of funding under Ottawa’s equalization formula, noting they provide more in taxes to the federal government than they receive back in transfer payments. Alberta’s government expressed disappointment that the province wasn’t eligible for funding even as its economy suffers from falling oil prices.

Morneau said the equalization program wasn’t designed to shore up struggling economies but to ensure Canadians have access to equitable social programs wherever they live. Renewal of the equalization formula, he said, was approved after extensive consultation and study by the Finance Ministry, and any further changes would only be considered after the existing program term elapses.

“Moving on equalization may well be a possibility the next time we renew it, which will be in four years,” Morneau told reporters on Monday after wrapping up meetings with Canada’s provincial and territorial finance ministers.

The Liberal government’s renewal keeps the current equalization system in place until 2024. The formula is typically reviewed every five years.

Ontario Finance Minister Vic Fedeli, who said he lobbied for a review of the equalization formula during Monday’s finance ministers’ meeting, called on Ottawa to provide more tax dollars directly to the provinces to help pay for health and social programs.

“The federal government should be turning more of that money over to the provinces to cover health care and other issues,” he said after meeting with his provincial, federal and territorial counterparts, noting that Ontario sends $12.9-billion more in tax dollars to Ottawa than it receives back in transfers.

Echoing these complaints, Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci told reporters Monday that equalization “doesn’t work” for his province. He also said he was “disappointed” that Ottawa hasn’t committed to helping his province purchase more rail cars to improve the flow of crude shipments and shore up Alberta’s depressed oil prices.

Alberta oil, known on the market as Western Canadian Select, rebounded to more than $37 USD per barrel late Friday, after falling to a record low of less than $14 last month. The recovery comes after Alberta’s NDP government said it would slash oil production by 8.7 per cent starting Jan. 1, 2019, and look to purchase enough train cars and locomotives to move up to 120,000 barrels of oil by rail a day.

Oil from the province historically sells at a discount compared to West Texas Intermediate crude, which is widely seen as the benchmark oil price. This is largely attributable to the lack of access to overseas markets, with most of landlocked Alberta’s oil flowing to refineries in the U.S.

Ceci said the price differential for Alberta oil should “seize the country” given the damage it causes to the Canadian economy. During the height of the crisis, the Alberta government estimated that historically low prices for the province’s oil cost Canada $80 million a day.

When pressed by reporters, Morneau refused to signal support or opposition to the rail car proposal, saying only that building a new pipeline to the west coast would be the “long-term” fix to the steep discount Alberta oil fetches on the international market.

He said he was open to further discussions of the proposal but claimed the federal government was already helping Alberta in the best manner possible by working to advance the nearly $2-billion expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline.

“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, adding that Ottawa and the provinces “feel like we need to work as a team on Alberta.”

Speaking to CBC’s The National, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he’d be willing to consider contributing federal dollars to Alberta’s planned purchase of rail cars.

“If that’s a proposal that (Alberta Premier Rachel Notley) thinks is going to make a significant difference, then we’re happy to look at how it works. I mean, we’re there to be a partner, to help,” he said in the interview, which aired Sunday.

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