Mr. Speaker, a new study by two economists from the University of Calgary, soon to be published in the Canadian Business Economic Journal , shows that the Province of Quebec is the biggest winner in Canadian federalism.
The researchers compared the total amount of money that each province paid to Ottawa in the form of taxes, etc, with the amount of money directly transferred to each province over the last 32 years.
Between 1961 and 1992, Quebec has gotten $168 billion more out of the federal government than it put in in taxes and other payments to Ottawa. The province has netted an average annual bonus of $803 per person.
Quebecers are not gullible. And the polls prove it. The opposition's lame arguments are not winning over flocks because federalism is working in Canada, despite its imperfections, and Quebec benefits from it.