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| Little substance to premiers' prattle - Wednesday, July 16, 2003 at 15:47 |
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Little substance to premiers' prattle Graham Thomson Tuesday, July 15, 2003 They are the David Copperfields of politics. Master illusionists all. Canada's premiers could walk through the Great Wall of China or make a jumbo jet vanish. (Air Canada is making an entire airline disappear but that's a different trick). At the premiers' recent annual meeting in Charlottetown there was so much smoke and mirrors you'd swear a carnival funhouse had caught fire. The premiers began on Thursday trumpeting "a new era of constructive and cooperative federalism" through the formation of a new Council of the Federation -- a council that skeptics, including some provincial officials, dismissed as nothing more than the tattered status quo in a fancy cloak. They ended on Friday by issuing a final communique that they had all finally agreed to support a National Council on Health. Except they hadn't. Alberta Premier Klein, for one, issued a verbal asterisk that he wasn't signing on unless he got certain guarantees from the next prime minister. It's a game they play most years, arriving a little grumpily at the conference only to patch up their differences during discussions and then leave under a rainbow of unity. This year they put on a particularly good show. Within hours of meeting on Thursday they had agreed to Quebec Premier Jean Charest's idea for the Council of the Federation. The council would provide a mechanism for the provinces to keep in touch regularly on common issues. Those issues presumably would be studied by a council staff which would produce reports. The council would encourage more meetings among the premiers and arguably spark an unprecedented exchange of views. In theory the council offers a formal method to break through the chronic bickering between provinces and help them win consensus. In turn that would help get their concerns addressed more effectively by the federal government which would be invited by the provinces to sit down for meetings, instead of the other way around. It's all part of the provincial plan to force Ottawa to bow to the provinces' notion that the federal government is an "equal partner" in Confederation. That's the theory. In practice no one knows what it really means. True to form, the premiers postponed holding detailed discussions over what it all means until the council's first meeting on October 24 in Quebec City. To skeptics, the council will end up growing into another level of bureaucracy, a second-tier level of meetings parroting the annual premiers' conference. One official from Manitoba said the premiers agreed to the Council of the Federation not because it's anything new but "because it's like motherhood and apple pie. How could you not support it?" The fact that the premiers agreed to it so quickly is another indication that it won't tip the status quo canoe. The reality is that Ontario, for example, does not see itself as an equal to Prince Edward Island. (I'd also argue the federal government is not about to lower itself to provincial status and come with its tail between its legs whenever the new council whistles). The pragmatic prattle in the hallways was that agreeing to a council was a way for the premiers to congratulate the federalist Charest for winning the Quebec election. "It was music to our ears to hear a Quebec premier say, 'We want federalism but we want federalism that works,' " said Klein who waxed poetic about having a Quebec premier sitting at the table without having one eye on the Exit sign. On Friday, it was Klein who couldn't wait to bolt from the meeting after hours arguing over the National Health Council. Klein will not sign on to the council until the next prime minister (you know who) promises the council won't mess with Alberta's jurisdiction over health care. The council's supporters say it is needed to improve how health dollars are spent across the country. Detractors, like Klein, say it will be expensive, unnecessary and an intrusion into provincial areas of jurisdiction. Let's not blame Klein for being the only speed bump in the road to a national council. Charest, fresh from championing the Council of the Federation, reiterated Quebec won't be joining the National Health Council either. I guess Quebec federalists can only take federalism so far. And Ontario's Ernie Eves blew hot and cold on the council, depending whether Ottawa will give him more money to compensate for the SARS catastrophe. In the end, Klein certainly got what he wanted. The premiers reluctantly agreed to delay implementing the health council until there's a new prime minister, even though federal Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Stephane Dion insisted the federal government will move ahead with the council soon. Klein also "won" on his other big topics, mad cow disease and auto insurance. Not that he was asking for much. On mad cow he got the premiers to "beef up" (his words, not mine) their message that the federal government should be "relentless," not just "aggressive," in urging the United States to lift its ban on Canadian beef. On the cost of auto insurance, the premiers agreed "to share information and strategies for a more co-ordinated effort to address rising claim costs and underwriting practices." They called the Charlottetown meeting "historic" and a great move forward. To put it bluntly, we have no National Health Council, insurance rates are continuing to rise, the beef industry is still in the meat grinder and the premiers have simply agreed to maybe talk more often. That's what we're left with when the smoke clears and the mirrors reflect some reality. |