The News Rundown
- BC Premier David Eby has been in the news a lot this week, and his comments have highlighted the worsening relationship between Canada's premiers and the federal Liberal government.
- It started with Eby holding a news conference to mark the end of the annual Western Premiers’ Conference on Monday, where he said that Ottawa’s offer of $750 million to Quebec to help pay for a surge in temporary residents there is frustrating, and B.C. should also get a share.
- Eby said there are 10,000 people coming to British Columbia every 37 days, refugees have to stay in homeless shelters and international students don’t have support.
- Quebec Premier Francois Legault had said the offer from Ottawa came after he asked for $1 billion to cover costs associated with a surge in temporary residents. Legault has previously said the number of temporary residents coming to the province — including asylum seekers, students and workers — had “exploded” to 560,000, a number he says doubled in two years, straining social services.
- Eby said Canadians are seeing resources go to Ontario and Quebec “at the expense, in my opinion, of the West.” He said: “And so to see a single-province agreement with Quebec, is an underlining of a sense of frustration that I heard around the table. I won’t put this on anyone else, but I’ll say for British Columbia, how frustrated we are to see the money being showered down on Quebec and Ontario, and us scrabbling around for what’s left over. It’s not acceptable.”
- “That announcement today with Quebec, frankly, is the straw that broke this camel’s back. I cannot understand how that could happen. I cannot understand why we cannot get a per capita share at a minimum.”
- Eby made the comments as premiers from Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Saskatchewan and Yukon wrapped up two days’ worth of meetings in Whitehorse. Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai said the leaders represent different viewpoints but were able to set aside partisanship.
- B.C. government figures show there were 475,778 non-permanent residents in the province as of Jan. 1, an increase of about 84 per cent from two years earlier.
- Federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said Tuesday he was “quite tired of the fact that people are always blaming immigrants for absolutely everything,” after Quebec Premier François Legault attributed “100 per cent of the housing problem” to the increase in the number of people arriving on a temporary basis.
- Questioned upon leaving a meeting of the federal cabinet about Legault’s remarks, Miller took care to direct his apparent exasperation toward “the people.” “The increase in mortgages, in mortgage prices, has nothing to do with immigrants,” he said.
- Called on Tuesday to respond to Miller’s comments, Legault’s office maintained that the Quebec government “does not blame people who want to come to Quebec to improve their lives.”
- “The problem is the explosion in the number of temporary immigrants, created by the federal government. It puts unbearable pressure … on our public services, on French,” it said.
- Legault indicated that his government is demanding a 50-per-cent reduction in the number of asylum seekers and temporary foreign workers from the international mobility program, two categories that are within Ottawa’s jurisdiction.
- Questioned about this percentage put forward by Quebec, Miller carefully avoided responding with another figure.
- “What I certainly didn’t want to do was to mislead Quebecers and Canadians by setting targets that were not based in reality,” he said. “I have no reason to question what Mr. Legault wanted. I think he wanted concrete numbers.”
- According to Miller, the few weeks of existence of the working committee looking into the distribution of asylum seekers in the country have given “positive momentum” and he has “a certain confidence in being able to put a plan before the public at the beginning of September.”
- Miller also said British Columbia needs to step up and take on more asylum seekers, after B.C. Premier David Eby said Western provinces should get a share of the $750 million going to Quebec.
- “I think perhaps there was some confusion on the premier’s behalf as to what this money was for. The suggestion was it was for temporary residents. That is absolutely not the case,” Miller said.
- Miller said he’s open to speaking with the premier about the effects of immigration growth on B.C., but says those costs shouldn’t be confused with the cost of asylum services for those who arrive without resources.
- It's amazing that the federal government doesn't see any problem in the immigration systems that they're propagating. Even non-right wing premiers like Eby are finding issues and the Liberals continue to stick their heads in the sand. It shows that things will not change unless the federal government changes in an election.
- Supplementals:
- Lethbridge West MLA Shannon Phillips has announced that as of July 1 she will resign her seat in the legislature.
- Most of the conversation on this topic has been around how this may open up a seat for Naheed Nenshi if he becomes NDP leader or about how the toxic nature of Alberta politics is what drove Phillips away.
- Philips herself says that she is worn out by the polarization and disinformation in today’s politics.
- She also cited abuse received and in her view being inappropriately surveilled by the Lethbridge Police Service.
- After investigating the Lethbridge Police the provincial prosecution service declined to pursue charges.
- On the surface many may have sympathy for Phillips but we need to look into how we got to this place to begin with.
- Prior to the NDP coming onto the scene in 2015 Alberta politics was peaceful, civil, and focused on ideas. The centrist progressive conservatives were challenged from the right and centre left occasionally. They then worked this into their governing platforms and ran the province effectively for 40+ years.
- When the NDP came into power they brought in a number of policies that Albertans either were not aware of due to the media coverage of the campaign or they outright neglected to put in their platform which were the case of the coal-fired plant phase out and carbon tax respectively.
- These policies were wanted by no one outside of the core bases of Edmonton and downtown Calgary.
- The NDP also brought in other controversial measures such as emission caps, a huge $15/hr minimum wage, and the farm safety act otherwise known as Bill 6.
- Now only the carbon tax and emission caps at the start fell under Philips ministry as environment minister but the NDP as a whole presented an affront to Alberta life as it was known.
- Later on the NDP, specifically under Philips ministry, promoted the idea of Bighorn Wildland Provincial Park.
- Albertans are inherently outdoorsy and one would think a provincial park would be no big deal, we already have tons of them, right?
- Well, this provincial park would have been situated on the eastern slopes of the Rockies between Banff National Park and Jasper National Park covering areas like Rocky Mountain House and Nordegg.
- It also would have limited ATV and snowmobile use to trails only. This is some of the most iconic backcountry in Alberta and people didn’t take kindly to this being promoted without consultation.
- Given the past polarization from things like the carbon tax, emission caps, minimum wage increase, farm safety act, and other policies the debate on this was incredibly contentious.
- With that summary out of the way of policies put forward by Philips ministry and the NDP as a whole it comes down to this: the NDP campaigned as a centrist option and neglected to inform Albertans about everything that was controversial.
- In her outgoing press conference Philips said, “these conditions are not improving. The right is only getting more crazy and more bonkers, and disinformation is just getting worse. And that is going to have an effect on people’s desire to do this work.”
- Reading into this it’s the fault of the right and disinformation which has been a generous catch-all for some folks for information they just disagree with.
- Now of course we haven’t had the opportunity to have a sit-down with Philips to see where her exact grievances are on disinformation but the bigger issue is of course the threat of violence and being surveilled by the police.
- Phillips’ said that if the NDP had formed government she would not be leaving. This raises an interesting thought because does that mean it would become easier if one is in government? It’s worth it because you get to put your policies forward? Or maybe it just comes down to money and being able to weather the storm.
- We need to go back in time and look at the NDP’s policies and where the province was prior to 2015 to understand why the political climate became so charged in Alberta.
- The NDP’s win and their policies that were not campaigned on or were outright hostile to many ways of Albertan life contributed to the increase in political temperature in the province.
- Likewise, Justin Trudeau’s use of the province repeatedly as a convenient political wedge on issues from abortion, energy, and municipal affairs have increased the political temperature.
- Likewise, the Kenney government’s COVID restrictions and policies increased the political temperature in the province.
- The common through line in all this is that for 40+ years the Progressive Conservatives ran the province effectively through the provincial bureaucracy.
- This freed the Progressive Conservatives up to manage and set expectations with the population across the province. They held seats everywhere and were very in tune with what Albertans were thinking and wanted. This is a huge part of the reason Alberta wasn’t overly contentious with the PCs in power.
- The NDP was a rabid departure from this ideal.
- Phillips and the NDP would be wise to realize that a large part of the polarization they face is because of their policies. As they say, you reap what you sow and if it’s too hot, step out of the kitchen.
- Supplementals:
- BC premier David Eby has been in the news a lot this week, and a lot of it was for criticizing the federal government. The only NDP premier in the country has been generally cordial and collaborative with Trudeau's Liberals on getting projects done, but it's been an increasingly discordant relationship lately, and as always, it comes down to money.
- Eby said Thursday that B.C. will consider joining Newfoundland and Labrador, home to Canada's only Liberal premier, in a court challenge over federal equalization payments in an effort to get “fair treatment” from Ottawa.
- The B.C. premier has been critical of unfair federal funding for Western Canada, saying the lack of money for important projects while cash flows to Quebec and Ontario, shows those provinces get special treatment. For instance, there is a huge need for flood mitigation in the Fraser Valley, an area badly damaged by flooding in 2021, and the Iona Island sewage plant upgrade in Richmond.
- On Thursday, Eby reiterated his frustration at the pattern of a lack of federal funding on projects such as the $4.15-billion replacement for the George Massey Tunnel in Metro Vancouver, where no specific figure on Ottawa’s contribution has been set.
- “Building out the Massey Tunnel — here’s a $4-billion project where a federal government minister took out a full-page ad to say the feds are going to pay for it, during the election. [The current funding is] Zero right now. Zero. Taxpayers in B.C. can’t afford to build everything for the federal government, so that they can just rain cash down on Ontario and Quebec.”
- Furey said the lack of funding for certain provinces is compounded by the equalization program, a topic that he spoke about at length with Eby during his visit to B.C.
- Asked about his thoughts on Eby’s criticism of the federal funding, Furey said the formula for equalization is “fundamentally broken for Canadians right now.”
- “It was placed in the Constitution in 1982, and the spirit of it is not being reflected in the application today,” Furey said. “There is a calculation problem, a formula problem. And that’s why we think that really a court needs to evaluate how this is applied across jurisdictions, British Columbia and all provinces, for all Canadians.”
- The worsening federal provincial relationship started earlier this month when Eby and federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller traded comments about funding and immigration. After Eby said at the Western Premiers Conference that Ottawa was “showering” Ontario and Quebec with money, Miller suggested that if BC wants more money, the provincial government needs to be willing to take in more asylum seekers.
- Eby said his issue with federal funding stretches well beyond the migrant and immigration issues: “My concern is about fair treatment for British Columbia from the federal government. And that means something very straightforward to me. It means based on our population, that whatever the federal program is, that we get a fair share of that federal program, it could be migrants, could be economic development, could be housing, you name it.”
- He pointedly criticized the billions invested in Ontario and Quebec’s automotive industry while infrastructure projects vital to British Columbia, such as the Massey Tunnel, are overlooked.
- Eby voiced strong criticism of the current equalization system, which he believes gives “special treatment” to provinces like Ontario and Quebec while leaving Western provinces to dry.
- “We don’t ask for special treatment, we don’t ask for anything other than (what) any other province is getting,” said Eby on Thursday. “All we want is fair treatment between us and Ottawa and all the other provinces.”
- N.L. Premier Andrew Furey defended Eby’s stance, describing the existing equalization formula as “fundamentally broken.” He insisted that a judicial review was necessary to ensure fairness in the scheme. Furey said the lack of funding for certain provinces is compounded by the equalization program, a topic that he spoke about at length with Eby during his visit to B.C.
- Newfoundland and Labrador announced plans to take Ottawa to court in May, saying the existing system puts it at a disadvantage.
- The province said at the time of the announcement that it could have received between $450 million and $1.2 billion in each of the last five years instead of receiving nothing due to the formula’s fundamental flaws. The statement said part of the discrepancy is that the formula doesn’t account for the high cost of providing services to the country’s most sparsely populated and rapidly aging province.
- Newfoundland and Labrador’s challenge has received some support from other provinces, with Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe saying in a social-media post that he has also directed their attorney general to reach out about the case.
- Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said he and Furey have similar thoughts on the federal government’s obligations and whether it’s meeting them, and Nova Scotia will follow any action by Newfoundland and Labrador with interest.
- Equalization is something that has been a broken system for a long time, well before Furey and Eby, the Liberal and NDP premiers started voicing opposition to it. Alberta under a slew of different premiers have always been against the system, saying that it unfairly takes a huge proportion of money out of the province. Yet, when BC's premier talks about it, it suddenly gets a lot of positive media attention. Maybe this is just another similarity between the country's two westernmost provinces.
- Supplementals:
Firing Line
- On Friday it became clear that Canada was visiting Cuba. HMCS Margaret Brooke entered Havana Harbour “after a successful 9-week tour of the region, collaborating with Caribbean partners on the region’s safety.” read a post on X from the Embassy of Canada in Cuba.
- The Royal Canadian Navy further confirmed this by posting “¡Hola #Havana! It's been a while.”
- What is not clear from this though is that our ship is sharing an anchorage with Russian vessels.
- The Royal Canadian Navy was shadowing Russian warships in the Caribbean but is now sharing an anchorage with them in the same port of Havana!
- At this point it looks like Defence Minister Bill Blair authorized the visit to Havana.
- Foreign Affairs Minister Melany Joly, when asked in an interview with the CBC had no idea as to why the Canadian Navy would have a ship in port at the same time as Russia.
- To give a scale of the operations at play here with our American allies:
- The frigate HMCS Ville de Québec was tasked with shadowing the Russian ships, which conducted missile exercises during their Atlantic crossing using Moscow's new Zircon hypersonic missiles. The Ville de Québec is part of a three-ship group that tracked the Russians, along with the U.S. destroyer USS Truxton and U.S. Coast Guard cutter USCGC Stone.
- After this HMCS Margaret Brooke sailed to Havana as a guest of the Revolution Armed Forces of Cuba to “celebrate the long-standing bilateral relationship between Canada and Cuba.”
- Prior to Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister no Canadian naval vessel for more than 50 years had visited Cuba.
- Of course this all stems from the Cuban missile crisis of the early 60s which is the closest the west came to nuclear war with the Soviets.
- And today, Cuba is still an ally of Russia.
- The Trudeau family has a strong affinity to the Castros. Pierre Trudeau was friends with Castro. Trudeau’s mother Margaret was too and there’s still ongoing questions of where Justin Trudeau fits into this relationship.
- In November 2016, Justin Trudeau went to Cuba hoping to meet with Fidel Castro who was dying at the time but he did get to see Raul Castro and Castro’s chosen successor.
- This is another example of the federal government being tone-deaf on an issue of importance to our most important ally.
- Global Affairs Canada spokesperson John Babcock suggested that the Cuba visit was part of a deliberate departmental strategy.
- He said, “amidst global insecurity, Canada believes in pragmatic diplomacy to engage countries of different perspectives while we continue to uphold our values and interests and defend the international rules-based order.”
- Cuban nationals are concerned because recently there has been a crackdown on who the regime in Cuba sees as dissidents with decade long sentences for political prisoners.
- Cuba has also become closer with Russia in recent years due to the war in Ukraine.
- Juan Antonio Blanco Gil is a former Cuban diplomat and historian who lives in Miami and has written extensively about Cuba's foreign policy feels that Canada is one-sided in its feelings about Cuba.
- He also feels that Canada may have underestimated how Cuba feels.
- He summed up the situation as being one where the current regime in Cuba sees the west as the enemy. Canada is part of that since we are allies with the United States.
- This results in a situation where Canada is actually seen as an enemy by Havana but it seems as though the Canadian government hasn’t really digested that for one reason or another.
- The only thing our presence in Cuba is doing is driving a wedge between NATO allies that helps Russia and Cuba.
- This is the fundamental miscalculation by the Trudeau government.
- Conservative Foreign affairs critic Michael Chong boiled it down to three points:
- 1. Why would we “celebrate” relations with a communist dictatorship in the first place?
- 2. Cuba took us to the edge of nuclear war in 1962 and we were obviously at that time sided with the United States.
- 3. Trudeau wanted the audience with Fidel Castro but was denied in November 2016.
- So with all of these, why would we still be reaching out to Cuba?
- It’s a conundrum that makes no sense and isn’t something that helps our allies at all.
- If anything it’s something that Trudeau himself is interested in for reasons that could be anything from familial to his own still seemingly naive view on foreign policy.
- Supplementals:
Quote of the Week
“Building out the Massey Tunnel — here’s a $4-billion project where a federal government minister took out a full-page ad to say the feds are going to pay for it, during the election. [The current funding is] Zero right now. Zero. Taxpayers in B.C. can’t afford to build everything for the federal government, so that they can just rain cash down on Ontario and Quebec.” - BC Premier David Eby on unfair federal funding and equalization
Word of the Week
Equalization - the process of making laws or treatment the same for all people or companies in a group or place
How to Find Us
Westerncontext.ca
westerncontext.ca/subscribe
westerncontext.ca/support
twitter.com/westerncontext
facebook.com/westerncontext
Show Data
Episode Title: Equal and Fair
Teaser: BC Premier David Eby is frustrated about immigration, a former Alberta NDP cabinet minister resigns, and Eby may join Newfoundland and Labrador’s premier against equalization. Also, Russian, US and Canadian warships all take a trip to Cuba.
Recorded Date: June 15, 2024
Release Date: June 16, 2024
Duration: 55:08
Edit Notes: None
Podcast Summary Notes
<Teaser>
<Download>
Duration: XX:XX