Stephen Harper was in New Brunswick today, providing $210 million for road improvements across that province.
Tuesday Harper will be in Thunder Bay, announcing $15 million in funding for a molecular medical research centre. This is one of several projects that are estimated to create 400 jobs in the region. (Not to mention that Harper will welcome one time Liberal, Joe Commuzi, to the Conservative Party)
My guess is that this summer, Harper will criss-cross all over Canada, announcing funding for this here, that there...money for major projects everywhere...except for in NFLD and Nova Scotia.
You think major projects requiring federal funding in those provinces may find it a little sparse?
Newfoundland already gets $2,325 per person from the feds each year, and Nova Scotia gets $2,838 per person, in transfer payments. That is $4 billion each year, before any additional transfers for road work, port improvements, or other infrastructure projects which are funded by the federal government. Projects that create jobs and pump money into the local economy.
Through belligerence and petty politics, Premiers Williams and McDonald (to a lesser extent) are putting those extra monetary benefits at risk.
Those that take the greater federal largesse for granted, would do well to look at the bigger picture, and what the federal government already provides, before going to war with them over a $100 million dollars.
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