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Monday Dec. 3, 2007 BACK |
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A warning from
Premier McGuinty
by
Angelo Persichilli
THE HILL TIMES
Premier
Dalton McGuinty, who has been publicly criticizing the Harper government over
Bill C-22 lately, says he won’t back down in his fight to have what he
thinks should be fairer representation for the province under the federal
Conservative government’s plan to increase seats in the House of Commons.
Mr. McGuinty says Ontario is getting short-changed. Period.
Under
Bill C-22, the Democratic Representation Bill which amends the formula for
increasing seats in the House after every decennial census, provinces such as
Alberta and British Columbia would move closer to representation by
population, whereas Ontario’s representation would decrease, Mr. McGuinty
says. Now he’s calling for all Ontarians to pressure their federal
representatives to stand up for their province and ask them which side they
are on in the dispute over the bill.
In an interview last week with The
Hill Times,
Mr. McGuinty talks about his disappointment with Prime Minister Stephen
Harper’s proposal which he says “will result in unfairness for Ontario.”
First
there was the fiscal gap, now there’s the representation gap. Do you think
that the gap between Ontario and Ottawa is increasing too much?
“It’s always going to be pushing and pulling in this wonderful federation
that we live in, and the job of the premier of Ontario is to stand up for
Ontario’s rights when we see us being treated unfairly.”
Are
we being treated unfairly?
“What
the federal government is proposing right now, it will result in unfairness
for Ontario. What the Harper government is saying right now is that, for every
100,000 residents, British Columbia and Alberta will get one more Member of
Parliament. At the same time he is saying that Ontario needs 200,000 residents
before we can have an extra seat. This is unfair and what we want is to be
treated the same as Alberta, B.C. and Quebec.”
So
it has nothing to do with other provinces like Prince Edward Island,
Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, but only the big four.
“That’s
right. I don’t expect the same treatment as Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and
New Brunswick but, when it comes to the big four, I think that we have the
right to be treated equally. If we don’t get this fairness, the risk is that
we will lose our strong voice in the House of Commons and that could translate
into national policies that are unfair to Ontario.”
Talking
about a strong voice in the House of Commons, there are frequent accusations
that the federal Ontario Liberal MPs have not been very strong in their
defence of Ontario and Toronto in particular. So what’s the difference
between having 30 or 130 MPs when they sit silent in the House?
“Well,
I’m not just focused on Ontario Liberals but on all Ontario MPs of whatever
political stripe. This shouldn’t be seen as a partisan issue, but an issue
that brings all Ontario MPs together. And, the very simple question that
Ontarians are asking is ‘Who is on the side of Ontario? Who will stand up
for Ontario to make sure that we will have the same rights to representation
in the House of Commons as the other big Provinces?”
Have
you spoken to Prime Minister Stephen Harper about this problem?
“Not
lately, but I did when I met him here in Toronto.”
What
was his answer?
“Well,
I raised the issue and he said that he had a different perspective, and he was
not ready to change the bill. Of course I was disappointed, obviously.”
Where
do you go from here?
“I’m
asking all Ontario’s MPs to assume their responsibility, their obligations
vis-à-vis the people they represent. I understand why that might be
difficult, there might be challenges connected with this for all the parties
who have MPs representing Ontario in the House of Commons. But there is a
larger issue that ought to loom larger in the minds of Members of Parliament
who represent Ontario ridings, and that is our right to fairness when it comes
to our representation. Representation by population is an age old dictum that
is the foundation of any democracy. And that’s what’s in danger here to be
eluded.”
In
order to get that support, we know how far Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams
was ready to go. How far are you prepared to go to get that support?
“What
I’m asking all Ontario MPs to do is to stand up for their province and their
constituents to assure that, in fact, we are not discriminated against as it
would be under Bill C-22. What I’m doing now is to better inform Ontarians
so they will understand what’s at the stake and so they can speak to their
members of Parliament and ask them what they are going to do about the issue
and on which side they are. Look, I’m not here to take away anything from
any other Canadians, I’m only saying that we should be treated like
others.”
We’ve
seen lately that there are problems in the relationship between Ontario and
the federal government that go beyond political lines. After David Peterson,
it seemed that something had changed. We had Bob Rae, Mike Harris and now you,
complaining about Ottawa, whether there is Paul Martin, Jean Chrétien or
Stephen Harper in power. Has something dramatically changed?
“I
believe that what has evolved is a bit of an awakening. Ontario leaders have
to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. They have to be able to
stand up for Canada and a strong Ontario at the same time. The argument that I
continue to make is that the reason we want to be able to build a stronger
Ontario is for a stronger Canada. Forty per cent, plus, of the wealth
generated in this country comes from Ontario; that strengthens Canadians
everywhere. We have been proud throughout our history to play that role. I
would argue that Ontarians, more so than any other group of Canadians, are
close to the nation as a whole than they are with their province and we are
very proud of our country but don’t try to take advantage of us by
exploiting that pride.”.
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