SK court case to undermine NL and NS

Saskatchewan's court case over Equalization will tackle the issue of fundamental fairness in the system, according to Premier Lorne Calvert.

CBC News is reporting it this way:

Calvert said the legal action would not be over a broken campaign promise.

If a lawsuit was filed for every broken Conservative promise, there wouldn't be enough lawyers, he said.

Instead, he said, the suit would be based on the sections of the constitution that require the equalization program to be fair and equitable.

One possible route to that argument will undermine the offshore side deals from 2005 between the federal government and Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Why?

Because those side deals are effectively a political work-around for the Equalization program. After all, if Saskatchewan's argument is based on fair and equitable treatment, the province that's been looking for an Accord-type exemption might just put that point on the table.

If Saskatchewan doesn't raise the issue directly, we might well see other provinces weigh in on the case. Bet your bottom dollar that those other provinces - already fried about the deals - will bring it up as an example of a fundamental inequity in the federal government's approach to Equalization.

Ask Ed Stelmach if his province might seek standing on this one. His province has had its non-renewable revenues clawed back, to use that idiotic phrase, for 45 years. Why would it be equitable, from Alberta's perspective to treat that province differently from the others?

-srbp-