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Monday FEBRUARY 21, 2005 |
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What federalism!? show me
the money
by Angelo Persichilli
THE HILL TIMES (Versione italiana)
“John Tory has them running for
cover and he hasn’t been elected yet. Do they really think that attempting
to weaken us will be helpful to their re-election? I mean, after our
election?” The comment comes to me from an Ontario federal Liberal MP who
expressed in a very pointed way the general feelings in the federal Liberal
caucus about the recent requests from Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and
Finance Minister Greg Sorbara.
This strong and
open criticism from Ontario against the federal government and the energy
agreement with Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia has caught many
politicians, especially Ontario federal Liberal Members of Parliament, by
surprise.
After all, we
have gotten used to the periodical fireworks and lingering bickering from
the province of Alberta and to the innocuous complaints from Atlantic Canada
against the central government.We’ve also been able to rationalize the
torture treatments from Quebec, most of the time alleviated by some pompous,
but empty constitutional recognition, but costly financial concession.
But Ontario,
never; Ontario is
Canada. Remember
Conservative premier of Ontario Bill Davis was one of the most strenuous
supporters of Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in the 1970s and early
1980s.
Then the Liberal
Ontario premier David Peterson, stood shoulder to shoulder with the
Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney on constitutional issues and on
Meech Lake. Even the early years of the NDP premier of Ontario, Bob Rae were
characterized by the same feelings: Ontario always supported Ottawa, no
matter what,when a political warfare was propping up with some provinces.
“Ontario, under
Bill Davis, David Peterson and also Bob Rae followed the lead in being
allied in nation-building,”said Patrick Gossage, former director of
communications to Trudeau.
Things started to
change during the last years of Rae’s government.
It was in the
middle of a stubborn recession when the then minister of finance, Paul
Martin, cut payments to the provinces to get rid of the federal financial
deficit. Bob Rae, a strong federalist, threw the first stone at the federal
government’s glass house.
I recall
interviewing him on the dispute he had with the unions. He rubbed his thumb
and index finger together and said,“No money.”And he attacked the federal
government for cutting the transfer payments.
But hey, he was
an NDP provincial premier criticizing a federal Liberal government.
Then along came
Mike Harris who jumped into the federal-provincial relationship like a fox
jumping into the proverbial henhouse: and the feathers flew all over.
But, hey, he was
a radical Conservative premier fighting against a federal Liberal
government. Furthermore, it was a time when politics was all bluster and a
time when Canadian politics featured The Three Amigos. Do you remember the
Harbourfront poster with Jean Chrétien, Mike Harris and Toronto mayor Mel
Lastman? But in 2003 politics changed. It went, or at least we thought, from
a sparkling Asti Spumante celebration to a more sober chamomile tea serving
for an afternoon chat with friends.“Boring” David Miller replaced eccentric
Mel Lastman; and at Queen’s Park the “smiling” Dalton replaced Mike-The-
Chainsaw (Who remembers Ernie the Ghost?); in Ottawa, Paul the “conciliator”
replaced Jean the “terminator.” In December of 2003, the three new kids were
in town singing a new song in harmony: a new era of cooperation has started.
It was
short-lived: the first “flat note”come from Miller.
But hey, he’s an
NDP mayor against a Liberal government(s).
The choir was
reduced to a “duo”: Dalton and Paul.
However, they
stopped singing and for a while they were just humming.
Now it is over
and the same-party-divorce is out in the open.This time it is a Liberal
provincial government, against a federal Liberal government.
Now it’s quite
clear that it’s not a political, partisan dispute: Ontario is rethinking the
approach to federalism.
Even
Liberal-Liberal governments have a relationship problem.The Ontario
provincial Liberals are saying that $23-billion is at least $5-billion too
much to pay for supporting federalism.
Ottawa is
muttering back that it’s talking about tax money paid to Ontario and Toronto
by big corporations, including the big banks, from activities all over
Canada.They pay in Ontario only because their headquarters are there.
However, that is
not the point. Both Martin and McGuinty are paying for their lavish promises
made during their election campaigns, and the fact of the matter is that,
whether you are an NDPer, Conservative or Liberal premier of Ontario, the
pass code to a friendly federal-provincial relationship is “show me the
money.” What’s left from the federalism preached by Pierre Trudeau and other
Prime Ministers? “I believe that Pierre Trudeau,”said Gossage, “would be
horrified at the bickering over how the fiscal pie is divided up and the
total rewriting of the rules of the equalization that brought this bickering
about. Martin’s rewriting of these rules has opened up a can of worms and
Trudeau would be horrified. |
