Federal Transfer Payments to
the Provinces
March 11, 2004
Honourable Lorne Calvert
Premier of Saskatchewan
226 Legislative Blg
Regina, Saskatchewan
S4S 0B3
By Fax to (306) 787-0885
Re: FEDERAL TRANSFER
PAYMENTS TO THE PROVINCES
Attached
find a copy of a letter dated January 30th, 2004 addressed to
the Honourable Ralph Goodale in his capacity as Minister of Finance for
Canada. He has failed to provide answer to this letter which in turn has
triggered the same request to you as Premier of Saskatchewan.
I
note that the Web Site for the Department of Finance Canada provides
information to the public on the Federal Transfer payments that total in
excess of 49 billion dollars for distribution to all provinces.
I
further note that the Province of Manitoba received for the year 2003-2004
a total sum of 2.6 billion dollars for its allotted share of the pie.
I
further note that the Province of Saskatchewan received for the year
2003-2004 a total sum of 1.4 billion dollars for its allotted share of the
pie.
This
shows that Manitoba received 1.2 billion more dollars than Saskatchewan.
This translates to 2251 per person for the people of Manitoba and 1364
dollars per person for the people of Saskatchewan.
Given
the fact that the Saskatchewan Public Employees Pension fund is under
funded by in excess of 4.0 billion dollars and given the fact that this
has caused Ottawa to provide the funding necessary to make payment for the
demands placed on the fund by the Saskatchewan Public Employees
Pensioners, is it possible that Ottawa is funding in excess of 1.0 billion
dollars of Saskatchewan liabilities and deducting this amount from the
transfer payments?
Should the above prove to be
correct it is requested that you provide the writer with the documentation
showing the breakdown of the distribution of the 1.0 billion dollars. How
much went to make payment for the unfounded pension requirements? What
other Saskatchewan Government liabilities are
funded by Ottawa out of this withheld transfer payment?
I
further ask you to provide me with the reason why the Saskatchewan
Department of Finance has entered into this transaction in this manner?
Why is the 1.2 billion dollars not simply transferred to the
Saskatchewan Government to allow it to pay its own liabilities and thereby
provide the proper transparency for all to observe. The present method
used leads one to believe that it is possible there are liabilities that
are being hidden.
Given
the fact that former Premier Romanow finally decided to let the public
know that in 1993 Saskatchewan was on the brink of bankruptcy this
leads me to the ultimate questions.
Did Finance Minister Don
Mazankowski in the year 1993, in his capacity as Finance Minister bail out
the Government of Saskatchewan, Sask. Wheat Pool, Credit Union Central and
Co-operative Trust Company Ltd in the amount of approximately 45.5 billion
dollars? or
Did Finance Minister
Mazankowski simply provide a guarantee of the Government of Canada of the
repayment of the outstanding 45.5 billion dollar debt and is it possible
that debt has now ballooned to in excess of 52.0 billion dollars?
Your
prompt and explicit answer would be much appreciated.
Yours
truly,
Daniel
P. Creighton
P.O.
Box 1140
Saskatoon, Sask.
S7K 3N4
Tel: (306) 249-4990
Fax: (306) 249-4942
Email- danielcreighton@shaw.ca
c.c
Honourable Harry Van Mulligen- Sask.
Minister of Finance
Honourable Brad Wall- Saskatchewan Party
Honourable Steven Harper- Conservative Party of Canada
Sheila Fraser- Auditor General of Canada
Honourable; - Ralph Goodale-Minister of Finance-Canada
Fred Wendel – Provincial Auditor of
Saskatchewan
Prairie Centre Policy Institute- Saskatoon, Sask.
Canadian Taxpayer Federation – Regina/Ottawa
Rawlco Radio – John Gormley –Saskatoon
Farmer for Justice – webmaster@farmersforjustice.com
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