B.C. to join legal challenge of how Canada calculates equalization payments [Video]

Premier David Eby has confirmed B.C. will formally support Newfoundland and Labrador’s court challenge to how the federal government makes equalization payments.

“We are struggling with this system that we’re paying into that goes directly to the people of Ontario, the people of Quebec,” Eby said Wednesday, at the final day of a meeting of premiers in Halifax.

Newfoundland and Labrador announced plans to take Ottawa to court in May, saying the existing system puts it at a disadvantage.

The province said at the time of the announcement that it could have received between $450 million and $1.2 billion in each of the last five years instead of receiving nothing due to it calls the formula’s fundamental flaws.

“We are going to stand up and make sure the program is working for them, is supporting them,” Eby said.

Experts on the Canadian political system, however, note that it is the …