Peace in our Time - Day 93
Have-no provinces only want their fair share: MacDonald
Federal minister tears strip off Newfoundland Premier
Calvert not backing down from lawsuit against feds
I know it's petty to say I told you so. But when it's Jim Flaherty on the other end, I don't really feel that bad about it.
So Jim. I told you so.
Federal minister tears strip off Newfoundland Premier
Calvert not backing down from lawsuit against feds
I know it's petty to say I told you so. But when it's Jim Flaherty on the other end, I don't really feel that bad about it.
So Jim. I told you so.
Labels: Jim Flaherty, the new productive era of bickering between the provincial and federal governments
posted by calgarygrit at
12:07 a.m.
13 Comments:
I hope Calvert goes ahead with his lawsuit - paid for with taxpayers money of course. It will be just another in the long list of reasons for the good folks of Saskatchewan to dump him in the fall
By
jad, at 11:34 a.m.
To jad - Have no fear. The good people of Saskatchewan are going to unceremoneously turf Calvert et al whenever the election is called, and Calvert knows it. He's just trying to save his own seat.
By
Brian in Calgary, at 12:23 p.m.
I really am sick and tired of these greedy have-not provinces that continue to act like leeches and suck money out of Ontario. Newfoundland and Nova Scotia get more than their fare share - too much in fact, so their premiers should just shut up and be happy with what they have. We in Ontario send billions to these thankless provinces in equalization and transfer payments, while we get nothing out of it except complaining, hot head premiers. Its time for McGuinty to stand up and publiclly tell those welfare cases that enough is enough, and Ontario will not support any plan that allows these greedy douchebags to still receive equalization if their fiscal capacity is greater than ours.
There is a simple solution here. The federal finance minister should give Nova Scotia and Newfoundland a simple choice. They either take the new deal, or they get nothing.
By
Clayton, at 12:58 p.m.
I'm really looking forward to the "how" of the Saskatchewan lawsuit. Because although I'm not a constitutional lawyer per se, I still think it's hopeless.
By
matt, at 1:07 p.m.
i, like clayton, am hoppin' mad that these have-not atlantic provinces "with their culture of defeat" want the same economic-development deal that alberta had when it was a have-not province. don't they know that alberta is special. ontarians should be especially mad that they are sending billions of dollars to have-not provinces because the federal gov't chose central canada for the development of our manufacturing sector at the behest of c.d. howe...even though there was a better economic case for building it in atalantic canada as it was closer to european markets.
By
canuckistanian, at 1:58 p.m.
news flash canukistanian: 80% of our exports go to the US, and the industrial heartland of Canada (Southern Ontario and Quebec) is in the perfect geographic position to take advantage of that. Atlantic Canada isn't.
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Clayton, at 3:19 p.m.
Canuckistan, do you have any idea what you are talking about? The atlantic accords were part of a deal that came out in 2005 - the equalization structure that Alberta faced in the 60's when they struck oil bigtime was completely different.
The old argument is that Albertan oil development was funded in part by money from the feds. TRUE! But what the hell do you think ACOA (which the Tories increased substantially) is? There is a difference between equalization and regional development.
Equalization payments are aimed at ensuring similar levels of quality with respect to government services across the country. Regional development is aimed at addressing regional poverty. Here is the rub - if Newfoundland and Nova Scotia get rich off oil their government takes in a lot more money. Why the hell would we exclude that from equalization payment calculations? Alberta certainly never got that deal, and if anything, the federal government has tended to extract Alberta's oil wealth, rather than nurture it (a reasonable enough policy in my books).
The real question is why should Newfies and Nova Scotians - who get money for being poor - continue to get money when they are not poor? The answer, according to Danny Williams is: because they have oil. The fact that dinosaurs died off the coast of Newfoundland is hardly a good reason - but you can believe me, if there is pogey in it, Williams will summon "lard tunderin' Jesus" himself on this one.
By
french wedding cat, at 4:08 p.m.
Clayton, now now, Atlantic Canada can engineer the kind of economic revolution that happened on McKenna's watch in New Brunswick. With... call centres (how a guy is hailed as a saviour for creating MORE telemarketers is beyond me)!
I would say, that I would be more likely to buy sketchy life insurance if the salesman would refer to me as "me by".
By
french wedding cat, at 4:11 p.m.
Just browsing the internet, you have a beautiful and very interesting blog.
By
Freddie L Sirmans, Sr., at 10:47 p.m.
Why's Report on Business quoting comedic foil Garry 'Done like' Lunn? Fresh off his appearance as Dr. Lovelace in the Gull Lake Theatrical production of 'Wild Wild West', the minister of hot air shouldn't be blaming his tardiness on fog, unless its the kind created by constant governmental twisting on such issues. The Harpor government continues to pick its fights poorly -- not that I can defend Danny Williams' brash act, but lets face it. When it comes to acting tough, Williams walks the walk. Harpor can barely read it off the teleprompter.
By
burlivespipe, at 11:45 p.m.
I'm actually surprised that Flaherty and Harper have been able to keep their cool.
I would have lost my temper and undressed Danny and Lorne months ago.
If Alberta tried a stunt like this at anytime in the last 40 years the LPC Feds would have called them "un-Canadian" and leveraged them into submission. Increasing their support in the rest of Canada in the process. The CPC has been more temperant certainly than Trudeau would have been. Dion's pandering to the Atlantic provinces should have been a little embarrassing to LPC supporters.
...but it wasn't.
Tomm
By
Tomm, at 12:58 a.m.
So what you're essentially saying, Tomm, is that Flaherty and Harper are less able or willing to deal with the provinces than the Liberals?
You're right.
By
Reality Bites, at 2:36 p.m.
Yes, we're pretty greedy out here in Atlantic Canada. We've never added anything to the federation, if you believe that ranting and raving from the greedheads in central Canada and Alberta. We should be content with the pittance the federal government pays us, enough to keep us out of outright penury without giving any prospect of ever getting out of the economic mess we're in.
How, you might ask, did we get into this economic mess in the first place? Why is it the Nova Scotia, the richest province at the birth of Confederation, is now one of the poorest? It of course would have nothing to do with a century and a half of economic policies designed to help Central Canada's manufacturers at the expense of Eastern Canadian exporters. It is entirely unrelated to federal policies that have done things like putting shipyards for the war effort in Vancouver, rather than Halifax, and sending the ships through the Panama Canal. The federal mismanagement of the fishery, the one economic engine they let us keep for ourselves, is a mere coincidence that has nothing to do with our current state of economic deprivation.
Do the people of Alberta and Ontario want to be paying equalization to the provinces of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland forever and a day? Because by God they act like it. The revenues from offshore oil represent about our last chance to invest in our economies and get out of the mess we've been trapped in for more or less forever. It is how Alberta went from poverty to wealth, and we supported them then. We suffered for the economic policy that enabled Ontario to get started. And now we ask for the same opportunity, at far less cost to the have provinces than we paid for their development, and we're told that we are "leeches" who "get more than (our) fair share" who should "shut up and be happy with what (we ) have."
For all of the carping from Quebec, Alberta and Ontario about the raw deal they get from Confederation, no part of the country has gotten such a raw deal and complained less about it than Atlantic Canada. We are not asking for something extortionate, or something that will have only benefits for us. This country will be immeasurably stronger with an economically prosperous Atlantic Canada. Instead of trying for that, though, the government has elected to shaft us, once again, because there aren't many people out here. It's a goddamn shame.
By
Ian Gray, at 3:54 p.m.
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