It just goes to show that there are few principles left standing once any one gets their hands on the PIN for a great big fat bank account:

New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord said Mr. Flaherty's suggestion that the provinces raise taxes to pay for key programs is not an option. "Six months ago, the Prime Minister made a commitment to address the fiscal imbalance in Canada," he said in an interview. "If the solution to that is . . . that the provinces just need to raise more taxes, that doesn't fix the fiscal imbalance. . . . I think Canadians pay enough taxes."

Ontario Finance Minister Greg Sorbara said the fact that Ottawa is projected to run a healthy surplus for the foreseeable future means there's still a problem. "The federal government has more resources than it needs to discharge its services and, by and large, most of the provinces have fewer resources than necessary to discharge [their] responsibilities primarily in the expensive areas of health care, education and postsecondary education."