Letters to Provinces and Territories: Nova Scotia 2018

The Honourable Karen Casey, M.L.A.
Minister of Finance
Government of Nova Scotia
Provincial Building, 7^th Floor
1723 Hollis Street
P.O. Box 187
Halifax, NS B3J 2N3

Dear Colleague:

I look forward to welcoming you to the December 2018 Federal, Provincial and Territorial Finance Ministers' Meeting in Ottawa.

In the meantime, I am pleased to provide you with Nova Scotia's transfer payment amounts for 2019-20 in accordance with the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act (the Act) and relevant regulations.

Total major transfers to Nova Scotia for 2019-20 will round to $3,430 million, an increase of $131 million from 2018-19. The first estimates of your province's Canada Health Transfer and Canada Social Transfer payments for 2019-20 are $1,039.4 million and $375.5 million respectively. In accordance with the legislated formula under the Act and its regulations, your province's Equalization payment for 2019-20 will be $2,015.2 million.

As you are aware, Nova Scotia is currently eligible for a Fiscal Equalization Offset Payment as part of its 2005 Offshore Agreement. The payment for 2019-20 is $8.2 million, a decrease of $9.9 million compared to 2018-19. Moreover, as you know, Nova Scotia receives an advance payment on account of the Additional Fiscal Equalization payment (also known as the "Cumulative Best-of Guarantee payment"). The preliminary estimate of the final calculation for fiscal year 2019-20 is a recovery of $72.6 million, and the 2018-19 amount is a recovery of $89.8 million.

Enclosed for your information is a table presenting the 2019-20 major transfer amounts for each province and territory. The table will be provided to your officials and posted on the Department of Finance's website in the context of the December 2018 Finance Ministers' Meeting.

I look forward to continuing our work on behalf of all Canadians.

Yours sincerely,

The Honourable Bill Morneau, P.C., M.P.