Take the money and run? Ontario’s economic case for seceding from Canada

It's a topic of consideration bound not to go over well: Ontario's secession from Canada.

Quebec has tried it, Alberta has hinted at it, even the Maritimes have considered reinventing itself as of late.

But Ontario? Upper Canada? Is it time for Canada's most populous province to go it alone?

An Ontario Chamber of Commerce report released on Thursday makes a strong economic case that Ontario would be better off seceding from Canada, citing the many ways the province contributes more to federal coffers than it receives in support.

As the Globe and Mail's John Ibbitson notes, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce in no way recommends secession from Canada, but it does make a good case for it.

He writes: "[A]s a cold hard calculation, Ontario has a much better economic case for seceding from Canada than Quebec ever will."

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Here are a few points from the report, titled "A Federal Agenda for Ontario," that underline the case:

• Ontario's unemployment is above the national average, but EI rules are stricter for Ontarians and make it harder to qualify for benefits.

• Ontario has 42 per cent of Canada's unemployed workers, but receives only 28 per cent of federal labour market development funds.

• Ottawa's Building Canada Plan underfunds the province of its per capita share by nearly $1 billion. The report notes that if the funding strategy supported provinces based on population, Ontario could afford to build two new highways.

• Ontairo receives $19.20 per capita in economic development funding, while Quebec gets $37.16 and Atlantic Canada gets $134.88.

• Ontario now receives federal equalization payments, but Ontario taxpayers still contribute $2.7 billion more than the province receives annually.

The chamber summarizes that, in total, Ontario contributes $12.3-billion more to the country than it receives back in transfers.

The report concludes that new federal policies should be created that reflect the current realities of Canada's economy.

But another conclusion could be: Let's keep that money and go it alone.

Ontario wouldn't be the first province to consider leaving Canada. Quebec is always on about it, but that is more about language and culture than economics. Any rumours around Alberta doing the same were about "Western alienation." And we haven't heard much of that idea in recent years.

A maritime union plan proposed recently would have seen Atlantic provinces merge together for economic reasons, but those who opposed the idea most often brought differing cultures into the mix.

So what of Ontario? The idea of breaking up the province has been considered previously. In 2005, the mayor of Kenora raised the idea of northern Ontario seceding and joining Manitoba, but it never caught on.

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More notably, the idea of Toronto becoming its own province has been raised on several occasions. In 1999, mayor Mel Lastman considered holding a referendum on the matter.

Two years, ago, it was rural MPP Bill Murdoch who suggested the city separate, this time in order to give the rest of the province the attention it deserved.

In each of those cases, it was either about proper representation in the House of Commons or Queen's Park. Not about economics.

In the end, there is little doubt that Ontario will remain part of Canada. And while the Ontario Chamber of Commerce can urge the federal government to update their policies, it will be just as hard to convince the rest of Canada that the province is hard done by.

Allan O'Dette, president of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, told the Globe, "It is absolutely in the collective best interest of Canada for Ontario to prosper."

Even that point may be debatable outside the province.