James, here's your province of Ontario as in and out of being a have-not province, including an explanation of our equalization system that provides a national standard of services across the country, or close to it. From the Conference Board of Canada national forecast, in part, last May.

"Ontario is set to once again become a “have” province. However, because of expected growth in the federal equalization envelope, along with the use of lagged data in the formula, it is unlikely that Ontario will be cut off immediately.

"Over the next three fiscal years the Ontario government will lose all of its equalization payments. The reason for the expected drop-off has less to do with booming growth in Ontario, and more to do with the poor economic performance in Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Saskatchewan—three of Canada’s four have provinces (the fourth is British Columbia).

"Equalization was created to address fiscal disparities among the provinces. The calculations for equalization payments are based on the average fiscal capacity of a province (its ability to generate revenues) and where that province lies relative to the average of all provinces. If a province finds itself below the average, it is deemed a “have not.”

"These provinces then receive transfers from the federal government to bring their per capita fiscal capacity in line with the average across Canada. Over the last decade, resource-rich provinces such as Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador have driven up the average fiscal capacity, pushing Ontario below the threshold for the first time in 2009–10.

"Based on our forecasts of provincial and national economic growth, Ontario will return to have status starting in 2018–19 when its fiscal capacity rises above the average. Based on the current equalization formula, Ontario would then lose all of its equalization payments.

"Despite being technically a have province after 2017–18, we expect Ontario will continue to receive a portion of these extra funds, preventing a complete loss of all equalization payments in 2018–19. Still, we expect that Ontario will lose about $800 million in 2018–19 and the remaining $1 billion in 2019–20."

Newfoundland and Labrador, of course, has been in an out from with its fortunes from oil. And remember those PIP grants? Canada paid the full cost of every dry well by the Seven Sisters until they struck it big with Hibernia. My brother was marine engineer on the rig.