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Harper's "new" Confederation
The Demise of Canada
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WELCOME TO THE BLOC-HARPER WEBSITE
January 17th, 2006
The media and opposition parties in this Campaign so far have dealt with
the colour and side issues and not the substance of Stephen Harper’s
vision for Canada.
For over two years Mr. Harper in particular and Messrs. Duceppe and
Layton almost as intensely, have dealt with Ad scam and other serious
allegations against the Liberals - not so much under Mr. Martin, but
under an earlier Liberal Government.
It is right that individuals be brought to justice for any such wrong
doings.
Even Mr. Martin agrees with that. In fact he established the Gomery
Commission to look into such matters after Auditor General Sheila Fraser
alerted the Nation to the problem. Mr. Gomery has brought out his
findings and on February 1st this year he intends to bring in
recommendations to ensure such crimes will not happen again.
Unfortunately, the Liberal government was defeated by the Opposition and
the Canadian public is being asked to vote without having the benefit of
Mr. Gomery’s final report.
So be it.
But we find up to now in the election campaign the substantive issues
which should be before the Nation have not been debated.
Mr. Harper’s plans for Canada, which he has stated since June 1994, have
not once been an issue.
Those plans call for the greatest reorganization of our federation since
confederation.
It is strange that Canadian political events since 1994 have been
treated so differently by the press and commentators. On the one hand
the Ad scam type of stories which occurred mainly in the mid 1990’s have
received intense coverage for the last two (2) years not withstanding
the fact they were mostly allegations or rumours such as the recent
Income Trust story. On the other hand Mr. Harper’s concrete statements
on the future of Canada made repeatedly over the same decade have had no
or at least scant coverage.
For example, in 1995 Mr. Harper then the Unity Critic for the Reform
Party under Mr. Preston Manning unveiled a 20 point program for a “New
Confederation” which was also referred to as “New Federalism”. It was
published in Calgary not Ottawa.
In its magnitude the New Federalism called for much more change than
Meech Lake, the Charlottetown Accord and the Calgary Declaration all put
together. Those approaches were in the case of Meech Lake and
Charlottetown voted down by the Canadian public while the Calgary
Declaration just died.
At the time of his presentation of his New Confederation proposals, Mr.
Harper said “they simply require a federal government that is willing to
act”. That is still his view.
Recently he stated “I don’t think my fundamental beliefs have changed in
a decade.”
Given a mandate he intends to institute most if not all of his 20 point
program which he now calls Open Federalism.
These 1995 “changes” Mr. Harper stated “will assert the autonomy of all
provinces and the power of the people well into the future”. Many of
Canada’s powers and revenue sources would be decentralized he said. Then
he added key federal powers would be retained “to maintain a common
economic space, eliminate internal trade barriers, create and coordinate
important areas of economic regulation and represent Canada effectively
in international trade negotiations defence and foreign affairs.”
It would be a type of sovereignty association within Canada for all
provinces not just Quebec.
The essence of his proposals were reflected as Part ‘D’ in the
Conservative Party of Canada Policy Declaration passed last March in
Montreal.
It referred to an “Open Federalism” that bound the Party and every
Conservative Member to:
“1) Restore the constitutional balance between the federal and
provincial and territorial governments.
2) Ensure that the use of the federal spending power in provincial
jurisdictions is limited, authorizing the provinces to use the opting
out formula with full compensation if they want to opt out of a new or
modified federal program, in areas of shared or exclusive jurisdiction.
3) Consider reforming Canadian federalism, taking into account:
(a) the need to consolidate Québec’s position within the Canadian
federation;
(b) the need to alleviate the alienation felt by the citizens of the
West.
4) Fix in collaboration with the provinces, the problem of fiscal
imbalance by increasing the amounts allocated to provincial transfers,
by reducing taxes or by transferring tax points to the province.”
Mr. Harper’s current promise to reduce the GST by 2 points is an example
of his intention to take funds away from the federal government (in this
case $9 Billion) and allow the provinces to pick up the slack.”
In his 2006 election platform, released just 11 days before the
election, Mr. Harper touched once again on his “Open Federalism”
paraphrasing much of what he said earlier.
This is the first time in Canadian history that a National political
party has embraced a provincial rights agenda.
Up to now from Sir John A. Macdonald to the present, our Prime Ministers
have always put “Canada First”.
Mr. Harper puts Canada Second behind the provinces and territories.
Without doubt Mr. Harper, if given power, will implement his program. He
has consistently referred to the subject in his Alberta firewall letter
to Mr. Klein, Premier
of Alberta, in his Belgium Waffle Speech and his more recent Quebec City
Chamber of Commerce remarks.
Even if he has a minority government he can count on the Bloc Québécois
to support his type of Open Federalism. He and Mr. Duceppe repeatedly
demonstrated they could work together in the last Parliament against all
other parties.
Before voting, the Canadian public must seriously question whether they
are willing to follow Mr. Harper blindly into such a reshaping of Canada
that in Mike Harris and Preston Manning’s 2005 Fraser Institute
Statement entitled “A Canada Strong and Free” it is proposed to leave
the Federal Government with only “assigned areas of responsibility such
as defence, foreign affairs and ensuring free inter-provincial trade.”
Mr. Harper’s New Confederation 20 Proposals include:
DECENTRALIZATION OF POWERS
1. Natural Resources
Guarantee exclusive provincial control.
2. Manpower Training
Guarantee exclusive provincial control.
3. Social Services (including welfare, education and health care)
Change the role of the federal government to foster cooperative
Interprovincial agreements rather than imposing unilateral standards by
withholding transfer payments.
4. Language
Replace the Official Languages Act with a new law, the Regional
Bilingualism Act, that would recognize the demographic and linguistic
realities of Canada and the practices of provincial authorities.
5. Culture
Make provincial governments the primary providers and guardians of
cultural services and primary regulators of cultural industries.
6. Municipal Affairs
Strengthen the role of municipal governments in the delivery of
essential services.
7. Housing
Guarantee exclusive provincial control.
8. Tourism
Guarantee exclusive provincial control.
9. Sports and Recreation
Guarantee exclusive provincial control.
10. Spending Power
Forbid new federal spending programs in provincial jurisdiction.
11. Transfers to the Provinces
Replace federal cash block grants with tax point grants.
12. Charter Challenges
End the Court Challenges program and its tax-funded court challenges of
provincial legislation.
13. Disallowance, Reserve, and Declaratory Powers
Remain dormant.
REFORM OF INSTITUTIONS
14. House of Commons
Permit greater freedom for individual MP’s; wider use of referenda,
citizens’ initiatives and recall.
15. Senate of Canada
All future appointments to the Senate would be made by means of
elections on the model of the 1989 Alberta Senate selection process.
16. Supreme Court and Judiciary
Future appointments to the Supreme Court of Canada would be made by the
provincial legislatures; all appointments reviewed by elected Senate.
17. Bank of Canada
Future board appointments made by provincial legislatures. Ottawa would
continue to select the Governor of the Bank.
18. Lieutenant Governors
Appointed by provincial legislatures.
19. Tax, Debt and Expenditure Limitation
Unilaterally amend the Constitution to forbid deficit spending or rapid
spending increases, except when authorized by a national referendum.
20. Constitutional Referendums
Introduce a motion in the House of Commons that all future
constitutional amendments must be approved by majorities in all regions
of Canada through a referendum.
Asked in a fair referendum to approve these proposals, we doubt if
Canadians would give their support.
In short now is not the time to reconstitute Canada. Provincial
disparities have never been wider. Alberta in 2004 had a gross domestic
product per person of $58,394.00; Prince Edward Island $29,152.00 and
Ontario was second highest at $41,703.00.
In short Mr. Harper must now commit that if he is chosen as Prime
Minister he will not commence to institute his Open Federalism without a
referendum being held where the Canadian people would have to approve
the proposals by an overall majority of Canadians and a majority of the
people in each province.
Mr. Harper must accept he is proposing changes greater than any since
the 1860’s. At that time there were appropriate conferences, agreements
and votes.
So should there be today.
Prior to Confederation there had been dysfunctional governments. A
strong central government was provided for in the BNA Act of 1867. This
allowed the country to be built and prosper certainly up to the time
separatism reared its head in Quebec with the birth of the PQ and then
the Bloc Québécois.
The U.S.A. has a much stronger central government then we do. In
Australia there is also a stronger central government than Canada. The
Australians because they can speak with one voice are currently
eclipsing Canada in world markets while we drift into more
decentralization.
Wake Up Canada.
Hon. Sinclair M. Stevens.
SMS/ap
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