Yesterday I wrote about the manner in which Ontario Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne has begun spinning a very interesting narrative about PM Herpes being anti-Ontario that will make life VERY difficult for him during the next election. - Harper wont help with pensions. - Harper is taking money from Ontario to give it to Alberta and Saskatchewan. - Harper has switched the funding formula to make sure Ontario gets even less - Harper is starving Ontario so much that he might force her hand to claw back the tax cuts he just announced. And to each segment of the the story, Harper has flipped Ontario the bird. If we add the late Jim Flahertys sortie when he told the world that Ontario was the worst place to do business... its a very compelling narrative. Today, Wynne added another layer. She demanded a meeting with the PM to discuss the issue of child care and the Ring of Fire mining development initiative in northern Ontario in particular, citing the fact that the PM has not met with her, the Premier of the countrys most populous province, in ELEVEN months. Wynne said she asked the prime minister on Sept. 16 for a meeting “at his earliest convenience to discuss a variety of issues relating to economic growth, developing safe and prosperous communities, and building a strong Ontario within a strong Canada.” He finally replied on Monday — 62 days later — but made no mention of a sit-down session. 62 DAYS LATER and 0 acknowledgement of the actual request. Clearly the PM has better things to do than earn the votes of the 13 million residents of Ontario. Meanwhile in Québec, the Liberal government of Philipe Couillard has also started to stick it to the PM Québec Minister Jean-Marc Fournier is objecting to implementing some of the PMs tough on crime bills because it downloads almost all the costs of implementing it onto the provinces, without any funds to cover the new expenses. So while the Conservatives are crowing that unlike the Liberals, we didnt eliminate the deficit by cutting transfers to provinces, they are downloading additional costs to provinces without funding... which at the end of the day has the same effect as cuts to transfers. In addition, they are cutting FUTURE transfers to provinces. During the last election campaign, they promised 6% annual increases to the health transfer.. Once the election over, they cut that in half to 3%. So basically they are doing the exact same thing the claim the Liberals have done, but they are doing it at the back end rather than at the front. This new front in Québec (the province that most hates federal interference in provincial affairs) gives Justin Trudeau a huge issue he can champion in order to go toe-to-toe with Thomas Mulcair for the votes of francophones in the province. If this issue gains traction for the Liberals, PM Harper will not be able to count on Mulcair retaining enough seats in Québec to prevent a Liberal governemen (something the PM DESPERATELY needs to happen in he wants any chance of winning again). While Stephen Harper is busy playing the big man, staging puffed chest slap downs of Putin close to cameras and microphones (and hiding in closets), what he does not yet appreciate is just how much power an organized Wynne-Trudeau-Couillard trifecta can have on destroying his next run for PM. Considering that Ontario and Québec are the two largest provinces with about 20 million of Canadas 36 million citizens, his insistence on looking down his Pinocchio-nose at them might be what does him in for good. theglobeandmail/news/politics/quebec-refuses-to-implement-harpers-crime-bill/article533571/
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 03:43:28 +0000
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