The province made the announcement that it was dropping the lawsuit last week after previously seeking additional funding from the federal government through the court challenge.
Terrazzano commented on the implications of the province rescinding its lawsuit, noting the benefit for Canadian taxpayers. “The Newfoundland and Labrador government was suing the federal government, essentially launching this court challenge trying to get the courts to force the federal government to increase the equalization handouts to the province,” he said.
“Newfoundland and Labrador eventually dropped that court case, so it’s a big win for taxpayers … we were intervening in this, because we were arguing like hold on a second right, the constitution was never designed to let provinces sue Ottawa to get bigger handouts from taxpayers,” Terrazzano continued.
“It’s good that Newfoundland and Labrador came to its senses and dropped this court case, because if they were successful, the bill for equalization could have ballooned by billions of dollars and really taxpayers, especially in Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan, would be on the hook for all this,” he added.
Newfoundland and Labrador’s decision to drop its equalization lawsuit spares Canadian taxpayers from a potential multi-billion-dollar increase in federal transfers. The province’s premier, Tony Wakeham, stated that although he believes the equalization system is flawed, the lawsuit will not be moving forward.
Hellbound and Down 