Premier David Eby has slammed the federal government for repeatedly giving British Columbia the short end of the equalization stick.He describe the redistribution program as "structurally unfair" to his province, pointing out that Atlantic ferry users still receive massive subsidies from Ottawa while those on the Pacific get peanuts.."There is an equalization formula that we disagree with," Eby said during a press conference in Vancouver on Monday. "We think it's structurally unfair."He went on to explain that under the current system, British Columbians "forego money from the federal government so that provinces that have less can experience the same quality of services across the country.""That's the program that exists to remedy unfairness," Eby continued. "That means every other program that exists from the federal government needs to be equally available to all provinces."He lamented that despite this, the federal government continues to privilege certain parts of the country over others."We need the same per-capita funding that any other province gets," Eby declared. "Fairness, equality, and access to programs of the federal government for provinces is mission critical — doesn't matter if it's an economic program, a subsidy for ferries, subsidies for road building, subsidies for immigration, healthcare funding, childcare funding, you name it."Despite only carrying around 400,000 passengers per year, Marine Atlantic receives $130 million from Ottawa. BC Ferries, which carries over 21 million passengers and $8 billion in cargo annually, receives only $35 million..Prime Minister Mark Carney recently moved to slash ferry fares on the east coast by 50%, while failing to offer the same relief in the west."Not only are British Columbians paying equalization to eastern provinces in the amount of billions of dollars," Eby said upon hearing the news, "we have to watch the federal government show up on the east coast and subsidize ferry users that already get a $300 subsidy for each $1 that a BC ferry user gets."He acknowledged that the Liberals had to follow through on their election commitments, but made it clear that he would continue fighting for BC ferry users.
