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Newfoundland and Labrador, which has been excluded from receiving equalization payments since 2008, said Thursday it has no choice but to sue the federal government over the program’s formula.
Suit to be filed in coming weeks in an N.L. court
Two Newfoundland and Labrador cabinet ministers said Thursday the province will take the federal government to court to try to push a change in the equalization formula, arguing the province is being cut out of potential billions of dollars in the long term.
Finance Minister Siobhan Coady and Justice Minister John Hogan said the province decided to head to the courts when the federal Liberal government extended the current formula to 2029, effectively rejecting a series of pleas for change.
Because equalization — the federal program that provides recipient provinces with cash to allow for a fair level of services across the country — accounts for the role of oil in gross domestic product, Newfoundland and Labrador has not received equalization since 2008.
The province announced earlier this year that it will receive equalization next fiscal year.
Hogan told reporters that going to court “is a last option,” and added that Coady and Premier Andrew Furey have been advocating for changes.
Hogan said documents will be filed in Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador in the coming weeks.
More to come.
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With files from Darrell Roberts