First Ministers

Tuesday February 7, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday February 7, 2023

Justin Trudeau’s Liberals are stuck in the mud and hoping a health care deal helps pull them out

December 21, 2016

Justin Trudeau told us he was roaring into 2023 to “meet the moment” but lately his Liberals have been regrouping, retreating and running around in circles.

In a speech to his caucus prior to the resumption of Parliament, he said the Liberals would put forward a “positive vision for the future,” including good jobs, safe communities with clean air, and “an economy that works for everyone.”

At the top of the list was a fix for health care, which he promised would mean not only more federal money but better health care outcomes. Mr. Trudeau had just announced that he was convening a meeting with premiers for Feb. 7, a sign that a federal-provincial deal on health care is close. That was supposed to be the first big item on the Liberal agenda in 2023.

So this week Mr. Trudeau has an opportunity to take back the initiative.

A prime minister’s meeting with premiers never goes by without disagreement, but it is a place where the PM’s voice carries the loudest. And if the meetings do end with a level of federal-provincial agreement, sealed by a major, multiyear injection of federal cash, then Mr. Trudeau will tout progress on an issue at the top of Canadians’ concerns.

November 24, 2015

At this point, the Liberals are getting a little desperate for that kind of agenda-setting. Anything where the news is something the Liberals are doing, rather than something they are undoing, or something they wish they could do over. So this is a big week for Mr. Trudeau.

His Liberals would like to carry a health care deal into a spring of initiatives and a budget that is expected to centre on clean-tech incentives and industrial strategy.

But that’s just a hope right now. Mr. Trudeau’s government has had setbacks and scandals and made blunders before, but the Liberals have eventually regained the ability to set the political agenda with a flurry of activity. That is one of the home-field advantages of being in power: Government actions have consequences, so their agenda is consequential. Yet lately, Mr. Trudeau’s team seems less able to control it.

Mr. Trudeau’s government is encountering problems of a third-term government that has been through a lot.

One is that things come undone or are shown to have been done badly. (Continued: Globe & Mail) 

 

Friday December 7, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday December 7, 2018

‘Expect a little dustup’: Trudeau, premiers brace for fractious first ministers meeting

Senior officials from multiple provinces are predicting a tense and difficult first ministers meeting when premiers gather to discuss the economy and trade with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Montreal on Friday.

August 5, 2010

“You can expect a little dustup. There’s no doubt about that,” said one provincial source who spoke to CBC News on condition they not be named.

The tensions became obvious during a conference call between the premiers on Tuesday afternoon. According to sources with knowledge of the call, several premiers voiced frustration with the draft federal agenda, which sets aside a significant amount of time to talk about issues important to the federal government and leaves only an hour for the provinces to raise their own priority issues.

“The agenda as presented had the prime minister fitting in a train of his cabinet ministers to lecture the premiers on the topics of his choosing,” said a second source from another provincial government, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity.

September 1, 2018

The main point of contention in the first ministers’ agenda is the plan to give three federal cabinet ministers — Finance Minister Bill Morneau, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna and Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc — two hours and 45 minutes in the middle of the day to lead discussions on trade and competitiveness, climate change and interprovincial trade barriers. The premiers’ roundtable which follows is set to run only 60 minutes.

The PMO late Wednesday reached out to CBC News to say that the ministers will only be speaking for a few minutes at the beginning of their part of the meeting before premiers are invited to voice their concerns.

July 20, 2018

The provinces have been agitating to set aside time at the meeting to talk about the downturn in the oil sector and Bill C-69, which overhauls the process for major project approval in Canada. Critics say C-69 will make it harder to advance large scale energy projects for development.

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe sent a letter to Trudeau this week demanding that the “crisis facing the energy industry” be added to the agenda. Other premiers argue it’s impossible to have a first ministers meeting about the economy without carving out time to discuss the impact of C-69 .

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe sent a letter to Trudeau this week demanding that the “crisis facing the energy industry” be added to the agenda. Other premiers argue it’s impossible to have a first ministers meeting about the economy without carving out time to discuss the impact of C-69 . (Source: CBC) 

 

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Thursday, July 25, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday, July 25, 2013

Women run the show and the biggest provinces with 87 per cent of Canadians

The old boys’ club that once was the Council of the Federation is no more — women now run the show because they rule the biggest provinces.

When Canada’s provincial and territorial leaders gather for their annual conference this week in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., they will make some political history.

An all-male cast in 2007

More than 87 per cent of Canadians are governed by female premiers — in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nunavut.

“It makes it historic and I’m aware of that,” Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne told the Star on Tuesday. “I’d like to think we can do a great job because of who’s sitting around the table,” she said, with a laugh.

“But I don’t have a point of comparison, because when there were 13 men around the table, I wasn’t there. So I can’t really judge the quality of the discussion or the approaches.”

Wynne, as chair of the council, is hosting the meeting that gets under way Wednesday when the premiers gather with First Nations leaders to discuss education and other issues.

“I would hope that we’d find that there is an even increased ability to have a collaborative and frank discussion although I understand that these discussions have always been collegial and they are pretty open,” she said. (Source: The Toronto Star)

Thursday November 22, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Thursday November 22, 2012

McGuinty laments Harper’s refusal to attend premiers’ meeting

Lame duck Dalton McGuinty quacks about Harper’s summit absence

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and other premiers are criticizing Prime Minister Stephen Harper for passing up a chance to co-operate on a national economic strategy with provincial leaders this week.

“I think we’re all disappointed that we couldn’t get an opportunity to meet with the prime minister and to build a strong plan for economic growth together,” McGuinty said in Toronto on Tuesday.

“We will do our very best,” he said of the premiers’ meeting. “We’ll see what it is we might be able to do by way of a concerted effort.”

Provincial premiers and territorial leaders gather in Halifax on Thursday and Friday at a time when the struggling economy is threatened by deteriorating business conditions in Europe and a potential U.S. economic meltdown.

But Harper’s office confirmed Tuesday he won’t accept the premiers’ invitation to attend.

McGuinty suggested Harper is missing an opportunity to follow up on a deal reached during the last recession in which federal and provincial governments agreed to invest in economic stimulus.

“We’ve now entered into a period of prolonged slow growth and I think we could do better by developing some broader policies, acting in concert with the federal government, whether that’s by way of stimulus or, I think, particularly investing in innovation and higher levels of skills and education would be very helpful to all of us.”Source (Source: Toronto Star) 

 

Friday October 14, 2005

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator - Friday October 14, 2005 Alberta to spend $10-million to hand out cheques It is no longer called the "prosperity bonus," but Albertans finally learned yesterday how the provincial government plans to dole out at least $1.4-billion in dividend cheques. Many have been eagerly awaiting the details since Premier Ralph Klein announced in September that a plan was in the works to give all residents, including the homeless, a small slice of the province's ballooning unbudgeted surplus. Fuelled by oil and natural-gas royalties, the surplus could be as high as $8.8-billion this year, Mr. Klein said recently.Ê But the one-time dividend, which government officials now call a "resource rebate," has not been free of controversy. There has been criticism that the money could be better spent -- for example, on eliminating health-care premiums -- and that the $400 cheques may promote national envy of the province's wealth. "I don't know where that comes from," Finance Minister Shirley McClellan told reporters yesterday. The program is expected to cost $10-million to administer. (Source: Globe & Mail)Êhttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/alberta-to-spend-10-million-to-hand-out-cheques/article18249998/ Canada, Premiers, first ministers, federalism, oil, resource, wealth, Ralph Klein, Alberta

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday October 14, 2005

Alberta to spend $10-million to hand out cheques

It is no longer called the “prosperity bonus,” but Albertans finally learned yesterday how the provincial government plans to dole out at least $1.4-billion in dividend cheques.

Many have been eagerly awaiting the details since Premier Ralph Klein announced in September that a plan was in the works to give all residents, including the homeless, a small slice of the province’s ballooning unbudgeted surplus.

Fuelled by oil and natural-gas royalties, the surplus could be as high as $8.8-billion this year, Mr. Klein said recently.

But the one-time dividend, which government officials now call a “resource rebate,” has not been free of controversy.

There has been criticism that the money could be better spent — for example, on eliminating health-care premiums — and that the $400 cheques may promote national envy of the province’s wealth.

“I don’t know where that comes from,” Finance Minister Shirley McClellan told reporters yesterday.

The program is expected to cost $10-million to administer. (Source: Globe & Mail)