Nothing could be further from the truth - literally

Bill Westcott, who, writing in the Compass under a headline like "Treated like hostages in our own country", is no stranger to hyperbole; certainly not when he claims:

Newfoundland contributes four times the amount per capita to the Canadian coffers, (Stats Canada documented), and still there are no price tags on our doors.

As a certain politician is overly fond of saying: nothing could be further from the truth. And yes, it's Stats Canada documented.

First off, Westcott omits the second half of his multiplication. ("four times the amount per capita" as compared to what or whom?) But it doesn't really matter, as you'll see below.

Statistics Canada has a wonderful set of figures, Table 384-0004, Government sector revenue and expenditure, provincial economic accounts, annual (dollars). (2004 is the most recent year; hopefully there'll be an update soon.)

In 2004, Newfoundland and Labrador collectively, through all revenue sources — personal and corporate income taxes, GST, customs duties, EI and CPP premiums, and other miscellaneous sources of federal revenue — contributed about $2.3-billion to the federal coffers. Nothing to sneeze at, to be sure.

In that same year, the federal government spent — in federal salaries, procurement, contracts and capital costs, transfers to the provincial and local governments, grants and contributions, federal income-support payments, and a pro-rated share of national expenses like debt-servicing — nearly $4.8-billion in, or in respect of, Newfoundland and Labrador. (Excluding the pro-ratio of national expenses, the amount spent in the province, or transferred to its government or residents, still topped $4-billion.

The difference, what the bean-counters call the "net lending", was nearly $2.4-billion in favour of the province as a whole: that is, the provincial government and population received $2.4-billion more from the federal government than the province, collectively, contributed in federal revenues.

Calculated per-capita, using StatsCan table 051-0001 as the source for population, federal revenues collected from Newfoundland and Labrador were, in fact, the lowest of the ten provinces and the aggregated three territories:

Federal government revenue per-capita,
by province (and three territories combined), 2004:

Terr  $9,465.10
AB  $7,858.24
ON  $6,956.01
Canada  $6,247.78 
BC  $5,710.02
QC  $5,455.59
SK  $5,213.65
PE  $5,207.58
NS  $4,938.20
MB  $4,937.31
NB  $4,609.88
NL  $4,537.82

The only thing that "Newfoundland" [sic], by comparison, "contributes four times the amount per capita" than, would be some imaginary province that had per-capita federal revenues of just over $1100.00 in 2004.

Furthermore, federal government expenditures per-capita in NL were third-highest among the ten provinces; fourth if you include the aggregated territories:

Federal government expenditures per-capita,
by province (and three territories combined), 2004:

Terr  $30,989.00
PE  $10,313.62
NS   $9,811.37
NL   $9,245.78
NB   $8,878.04
MB   $8,160.79
SK   $8,055.18
Canada   $5,944.43 
QC   $5,751.14
BC   $5,276.79
ON   $5,264.26
AB   $5,097.99

And the net balance, by province or territory, was as follows (figures in brackets are negative; i.e., that the province in question collectively received more benefit from the federal government than it collectively paid in federal revenues):

Federal government "net lending" per-capita,
by province (and three territories combined), 2004:

AB    $2,794.24
ON    $1,673.87
BC      $450.12
Canada      $316.57 
QC     $(281.24)
SK   $(2,783.23)
MB   $(3,144.02)
NB   $(4,249.55)
NL   $(4,613.22)
NS   $(4,782.55)
PE   $(5,258.35)
Terr  $(20,759.34)

The revenue, expenditure, and balance figures are evolving over time, and starting in 1994 — no, Danny, not in 2004 — the trend of increasingly lopsided "net lending" figures in Newfoundland and Labrador reversed itself. In actual (not inflation-adjusted) dollars, the "net lending" figure was -$6,404.17 in 1994; it has shown a more-or-less steady progression towards balance since then, but is still a long ways off. (The trend-line from 1994 to 2004, projected outwards, would result in balance in about 2030.)

And, at least at last count, Newfoundland and Labrador was at the same rank among the provinces, in terms of per-capita contribution to federal coffers, as it has been since stats began keeping in 1981: 10th of 10.