Are the feds really bigger than the provinces?

Despite provincial control of much of the social welfare structure and onshore natural resource development many people in Canada, including many political scientists, tend to think of provinces as relatively insignificant. Last night I was trying to come up with a way of demonstrating the importance of provincial politics in Canada.   Eventually I settled on conducting a quick comparison of the total spending as outlined in the 2012-2013 Newfoundland and Labrador and federal government estimates.  I was surprised that the comparison shows that while the per capita expenditure in the federal budget is approximately $7 242 the per capita expenditure in the Newfoundland and Labrador budget is almost twice as much at $12 684.


I realize this isn't a particularly rigorous comparison (in that I've only looked at one year and one province), but caveats aside, the size of the difference really amazed me.  Who would have guessed that the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador spends almost twice as much as the Government of Canada on each resident.  Crazy.


If I get a bit more work done I may try to expand the comparison both in terms of the number of provinces examined and the number of years.