Canada’s 13 premiers sat shoulder-to-shoulder Wednesday to both call on the federal government for help and to tell it to step away from their jurisdiction.
During the three days the premiers met for the annual Council of the Federation conference in Halifax, they described tensions in their relationship with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government. But the provincial and territorial leaders didn’t leave the sunny port city without first issuing a list of requests.
The premiers attacked what they see as Ottawa’s habit of intervening in areas of provincial responsibility ranging from dental care to the cod fishery.
As the meetings wrapped up Wednesday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford took aim at the federal government’s billion-dollar national school food program, which promises to deliver meals to an additional 400,000 children per year.
They can ask if to help in fields that are their jurisdiction while also telling them to fuck off when it’s outside their jurisdiction.
Ex.: Border control and immigration is a federal power, if they let more people in and it puts a strain on the provinces then they should pay for it. Healthcare is a provincial power, if the federal government has money to spend in that field it means everyone is paying them too much taxes.
Sure they’re forcing the provinces to do things that might be advantageous to the average Canadian, at the same time it’s the average Canadian’s responsibility to elect governments that will implement those things in their province instead of electing conservatives at the provincial level and progressives at the federal level.
This is it right here: the fed is using powers clearly within their jurisdiction in a way that’s causing massive issues for provinces. The provinces shouldn’t be on the hook for it and the feds need to find solutions that are squarely within their own jurisdiction rather than simply providing money to the provinces with strings attached.