collaboration

Friday November 15, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday November 15, 2019

As western tensions rise, BQ’s Blanchet says West shouldn’t look to him for help

October 3, 2019

As economic tensions rise in Western Canada over the slump in the oil sector, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet is warning the region that it should expect no help from him — and saying that he still wants Quebec to be its own country.

Speaking after a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa Wednesday morning, Blanchet was asked about the push for independence in the West and whether he would consider setting a more collaborative example in Ottawa.

“I doubt it, because I still believe that Quebec will do better when it becomes a country,” he said. “So I’m not the one that will fight to have a nice, beautiful and united Canada.”

Trudeau’s meeting with Blanchet is the latest in a series of meetings between the PM and opposition leaders as the Liberal minority government prepares for a new session of Parliament.

Blanchet was also asked if he has any advice to offer those pushing for western independence.

December 13, 2018

“If they were attempting to create a green state in western Canada, I might be tempted to help them. If they are trying to create an oil state in Western Canada, they cannot expect any help from us,” he said.

Blanchet said he will continue to fight, through national and international channels, the idea of “obsessively” extracting oil.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney shot back at Blanchet’s comments, saying Quebec should not reap the financial benefits of Alberta’s oil sector if Quebecers are so opposed to its existence.

“If you are so opposed to the energy that we produced in Alberta, then why are you so keen on taking the money generated by the oilfield workers in this province and across western Canada?” he said. “You cannot have your cake and eat it too. Pick a lane.”

October 22, 2019

Blanchet did not say much about Quebec separation during the campaign. He did say that, in Parliament, he would continue defending Quebec’s interests.

“We are people who are convinced that one day Quebec will take on the attributes of sovereignty,” Blanchet said on the final day of the campaign.

“But that’s not the mandate of this election. We’ve been saying it for five weeks.”

The Bloc surged during the campaign, going from 10 seats prior to the election to 32 afterward. (CBC) 

 

Tuesday November 25, 2014

Tuesday November 25, 2014Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday November 25, 2014

No détente in sight for Stephen Harper and Kathleen Wynne

(Column by Tim Harper) The Long War between Stephen Harper and Kathleen Wynne is only going to get longer — and likely more intense.

There’s simply too much at stake for both sides for détente, certainly not heading into a federal election campaign and the electoral riches available in this province.

The Harper Conservatives remember how Wynne campaigned against them last spring, they know they are dealing with aggressive adversaries in Ontario and they remember well Wynne’s characterization of the Harper “smirk” during that campaign as she recounted a previous, private discussion about pension reform.

They feel there is too much whining coming from a Queen’s Park government trying to take the focus off its own problems.

They want to campaign against a gang that will wear the hated sobriquet of “tax and spend” Liberals, a group of renegades who do not kneel at the Harper altar of tax cuts and shiny balanced books.

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Wynne and her Finance Minister Charles Sousa, with their big-spending election budget, their declining revenues, potential tax hikes and blame-it-all-on Ottawa bleating make an inviting target.

“If you wrote a story every time Charles Sousa blamed Ottawa for his problems, you’d end up writing nothing else,’’ a senior Conservative said this week.

“After 11 years in office, it is time for the Ontario Liberals to take responsibility for their economic management,’’ says Finance Minister Joe Oliver — also the GTA minister, by the way.

When Conservatives look at Kathleen Wynne, they see Justin Trudeau. Their instincts tell them to fight and discredit, not to sit and discuss the big issues of the day bedeviling the country’s two largest governments.

They saw Trudeau stumping for Wynne last spring and Wynne returning the favour, appearing on behalf of Trudeau’s candidate in this week’s Whitby-Oshawa byelection.

If Harper is seen to be snubbing Wynne, then he does so at his own peril, because it is risky to campaign as a tired government seeking a new mandate after nearly a decade in office by taking on a popular provincial government, with Wynne and Trudeau campaigning arm-in-arm. (Continued: Toronto Star)