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Flaherty: Cash-strapped provinces should raise taxes

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says the provinces should raise taxes to pay for their own programs rather than expecting the federal government to deliver billions in extra cash.
Flaherty says with eight of 10 provinces posting budget surpluses, the so-called fiscal imbalance between the two levels of government has obviously moderated.
Flaherty, who is meeting with his provincial counterparts today, says the provinces have the same taxation powers as Ottawa if they feel they need more money.
He adds it’s not the responsibility of the federal government to tax Canadians in order to fund provincial programs.

There's no fiscal imbalance? The provinces have the same taxation powers as Ottawa? They should raise their own damn taxes to finance their perennial spending sprees, rather than using Ottawa as their piggy bank? Do my ears deceive me? Or have the Conservatives had an attack of common sense?