Premier Pat Binns will leave for Ottawa on Sunday to take part in a very important First Ministers' meeting. Talks by the Prime Minister and Canada's Premiers' will focus almost exclusively on funding for health care, and issues surrounding fiscal federalism. The discussions are expected to conclude Monday evening.
The Premiers' call on the federal government for full restoration of the Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST) to 1994-95 levels is expected to be the subject of considerable discussion. However, Premier Binns will also be raising the issue of a strengthened Equalization Program.
"At the Annual Premiers' Conference in Winnipeg, there was a full consensus from all provinces and territories that Ottawa must strengthen the Equalization Program," said Binns. "We just want to make sure that the discussion of CHST, although a very important component, doesn't overshadow the need to reform the Equalization Program -- Ottawa must fulfil its responsibility in this regard as well."
For many provinces, including Prince Edward Island, equalization is a much more important source of funding for health care than the CHST cash transfer. The Premier has sent a letter to Prime Minister Chretien outlining the significance of a productive discussion on the Equalization Program.
Section 36 of the Constitution Act commits the federal government to make equalization payments to ensure that provincial governments have sufficient revenues to provide comparable levels of service. With the current Equalization Program, less affluent provinces only have the ability to fund public services at a rate of 92.8 percent of the national average.
This is unacceptable according to Premier Binns. In his letter to the Prime Minister, the Premier made it clear that, from Prince Edward Island's perspective, a necessary result of the First Ministers' meeting must be a strengthened Equalization Program.
"My correspondence with Prime Minister Chretien basically articulated that, given the growing federal surpluses, there is ample room in Ottawa's budget to make substantial improvements to equalization," stated Premier Binns. "Our province's ability, as well as many others, to deliver core health, education and social services depends a fair deal from equalization."