OTTAWA - The Harper government got blasted over its treatment of Saskatchewan when Canadians were asked about the fiscal imbalance in an Internet survey last summer.
But you won't read that in the official report from the Finance Department about the web consultations - it's found only in an internal document obtained by The Canadian Press.
Saskatchewan's demand to exclude non-renewable resources from a revamped equalization program - a $12-billion transfer of cash to Canada's have-not provinces - was clearly the hot-button issue for Canadians responding to the month-long consultation, which ended Sept. 8.
Of the 108 submissions, 50 criticized the Conservative government for failing to live up to promises to exclude resource revenues, just as Atlantic Canada's offshore energy wealth has effectively been excluded for Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador under special deals with those provinces.
None of the other 60 issues raised came even close to that level of consensus, an internal accounting of the responses shows.
The web-based consultations on "restoring fiscal balance" were open only to individuals, businesses and other non-governmental groups. About three-quarters of the submissions came from individuals.
Internal documents obtained under the Access to Information Act carefully exclude all identifying information, including province of origin except in one or two cases.
"Mr. Stephen Harper came to our province (Saskatchewan) prior to the federal election and stated time and time again if elected he would exempt our natural resources from the equalization program," said one respondent.
"The Conservatives argued when they were in Opposition that the federal government treat Saskatchewan the same as they treated Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia," said another.
Only seven submissions urged the Tory government to include provincial resource revenues in any revamped equalization program.
Since being elected, Harper has backed off from his promises to exclude non-renewable resource revenue from equalization. The issue is the most pressing in Saskatchewan, which stands to gain $800 million or more in equalization money if the general rule were adopted.
The Finance Department's official report on the web-based consultations does not reflect the overwhelmingly pro-Saskatchewan nature of the web contributions.
"There were wide views on the treatment of natural resources," says the final report, posted on the Internet last month.
"Some suggested that all non-renewable resource revenues should be excluded from the equalization formula, a view shared by the substantial number of submissions from Saskatchewan.
"There were also submissions that supported the full inclusion of resource revenues in the equalization formula."
The Finance Department warned last summer when it announced the consultation that it was not intended to be a poll, though the internal documents indicate bureaucrats conducted a careful accounting of which issues received the most comment.
The department initially refused to release the documents under the Access to Information Act, saying all results would eventually be published. But officials relented last week after the office of the Information Commissioner of Canada launched an investigation.
Saskatchewan's premier said the province did not organize a write-in campaign for the consultations.
"We did not advertise or organize . . . We certainly did nothing to exceptionally encourage anyone," Lorne Calvert said in an interview. Rather, more and more ordinary Canadians are becoming aware of how much is at stake, he added.
Asked why the official report did not highlight the apparent consensus over resources and equalization, Finance Canada spokeswoman Nathalie Gauthier said "the summary report on the website does in fact refer to the substantial number of submissions from Saskatchewan."
Some of the web comments sent to Ottawa included sniping at specific provinces.
One respondent complained about the Atlantic region being given a break on oil and gas revenues.
"It's like a welfare recipient winning the lottery and wanting to keep his monthly social assistance cheque."
Several respondents objected to Ontario being used as the milch cow of Confederation.
"Billions of dollars are flowing out of Ontario to support generous government spending in provinces like Quebec," said one.
Said another: "It seems preposterous that Ontario, as one of the very few provinces which never receives equalization payments, is a province with one of the lowest 'fiscal capacities' in the country."
The relatively small number of web respondents for the fiscal imbalance question is in marked contrast to the Finance Department's pre-budget online consultations, which last year attracted almost 6,000 submissions.
Last week, the department announced a similar web consultation leading to the March 20 budget, with a deadline of Feb. 28. The budget is expected to include the Tory government's solution to the fiscal imbalance issue.
