The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The gap between the federal government's surplus finances and the provinces' and territories' substantial deficit finances will continue to widen in the future, according to a recent study. Conducted by the Conference Board of Canada, the study says that the provinces will face chronic deficits of around $11 billion through 2019-20, while the federal government will see its surplus rise steadily, reaching $78.9 billion by the end of that period. "Our revenues and the revenues of most other provinces will simply not keep pace with our expenditures," Saskatchewan Finance Minister Harry Van Mulligen said. "It's a problem we're facing now, and we'll continue to deal with in the future, as this study confirms. And as we've pointed out repeatedly to the federal government, and now so has the Conference Board of Canada, the biggest expense is health care. We need more help from the federal government." The study predicts that health care costs will grow at approximately 5.2 per cent each year over the forecast period, driving total provincial and territorial healthcare costs from $72.5 billion in 2002-03 to more than $170 billion by 2019-20. "We have been saying for some time now that the federal government has the resources to assist provinces in meeting this challenge," Van Mulligen said.
