ST. JOHN’S, N.L.: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on the Wakeham government to tell taxpayers how much the province’s failed equalization court challenge cost taxpayers.

“Taxpayers paid for this lawsuit and taxpayers deserve to know what it cost,” said Devin Drover, CTF Atlantic Director and General Counsel. “The government hired expensive outside lawyers, sued Ottawa for bigger handouts, dropped the case and now it won’t even show taxpayers the bill.

“That’s not accountability, that’s a cover-up of the price tag.”

The Department of Justice and Public Safety denied the CTF’s access-to-information request for records showing the cost of external legal counsel in the equalization case on July 3, 2026. The government claimed the records are protected by solicitor-client privilege and refused to release any information, including the total amount spent.

That’s a reversal from the previous government’s approach.

In 2024, while the case was ongoing, the government released its retainer agreements with the outside law firms it hired: Stikeman Elliott LLP of Montreal and McInnes Cooper of St. John’s. Those records showed the province agreed to pay a Montreal-based lawyer $920 per hour, with other lawyers at the two firms billing between $300 and $550 per hour.

The government’s own retainer agreements also warned the law firms that access-to-information law “may require Government to disclose the financial terms of this arrangement.”

“The government already told its own lawyers that taxpayers might get to see the financial terms, so it can’t pretend the numbers are a state secret,” Drover said. “A total dollar figure isn’t legal advice. It’s a bill. And taxpayers are the ones who paid it.”

The Newfoundland and Labrador government filed the lawsuit in 2024, arguing the courts should force Ottawa to send the province bigger equalization payments. The CTF was granted leave to intervene in the case to represent taxpayers who would have been on the hook for any expanded payments. The government discontinued the case earlier this year.

“The government spent taxpayers’ money on a court case it walked away from,” Drover said. “The least it can do is come clean about the cost. Wakeham should order the release of the total legal bill today.”

The CTF is reviewing its options to challenge the government’s decision, including filing a complaint with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner or appealing directly to the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador.