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Trudeau is leading an activist government — does Poilievre want to do the same? – CBC News

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1 year ago

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With little fanfare, the House of Commons passed legislation last month to formally establish a federal child-care program.

The bill’s passage was never really in doubt. Between Liberal and NDP MPs, the government had more than enough votes. But it’s not every day the House agrees to create a major new social program (the bill still needs to pass the Senate).

Almost as notable as the bill’s passage is the fact that the vote was unanimous — 315 to 0.

Seventeen years after Stephen Harper’s Conservative government walked away from a set of child-care deals negotiated in the waning days of Paul Martin’s Liberal government — and two years after the Conservatives said they would scrap Justin Trudeau’s planned child-care investments — 110 Conservative MPs voted in favour of the Early Learning and Child Care Act.

The Conservative Party’s support wasn’t absolute — Conservatives complained that many of their proposed amendments were rejected. Crucially, it still remains to be seen whether the next Conservative campaign platform will commit to maintaining federal funding for child care at the level planned by the Liberals.

But the broad, multi-party support for the legislation may bode well for the program’s durability. It also can be read as an implicit endorsement of the Trudeau government’s particular — and muscular — use of the federal spending power.

The power of the purse

As researchers Peter Graefe and Nicole Fiorillo explained in a recent paper for the Institute for Research on Public Policy, the idea of a federal spending power emerged after the Second World War “as a workaround to the mismatch between the Constitution and pan-Canadian ambitions.”

While the federal government can’t directly regulate within areas of provincial jurisdiction, it can offer to transfer funds to provincial governments subject to specific conditions.

Graefe and Fiorillo say the way federal governments have used (or not used) that power has changed over the last 75 years — from the the postwar period of cost-sharing to the federal retrenchment in the 1980s and 1990s, from a renewed period of collaboration in the mid-90s and early 2000s to the (mostly) hands-off “open federalism” of the Harper government.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, right, looks at Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard during an announcement at Roberval, Que. on June 25, 2014. (Clement Allard/The Canadian Press)

Since Trudeau came to office in 2015, Canada has seen a return to an “activist” federal government, Graefe and Fiorillo argue — perhaps even more activist than in previous eras.

Their analysis of Trudeau’s government focuses on five major federal-provincial initiatives: the health care agreements signed in 2017, workforce development investments made in 2017, the child-care agreements of 2017 and 2021 and a housing partnership announced in 2018. Taken together, these deals “suggest that the current federal government feels more emboldened in asserting leadership than it did two decades ago.”

“Partnership” with the provinces was the stated priority when the Liberals came to office. Graefe and Fiorillo say that partnership now seems to be “conditional on a province accepting the federal government’s policy vision.” They also say recent agreements require provinces to provide “a lot more detail and transparency in planning and reporting” than federal-provincial agreements made in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Graefe and Fiorillo don’t cover the 10-year health care funding proposal made by the federal government earlier this year, but it seems to share the same characteristics. A new dental care program might bypass provincial governments entirely.

Will provinces start to push back?

If you support a strong federal government and national social programs, you’re probably happy with these developments. If you’re currently enjoying more affordable child care, you probably don’t care which theory of federalism underpins the funding arrangement.

But Graefe and Fiorillo speculate that this new federal assertiveness could eventually provoke some kind of pushback from the provinces.

The framework for such a backlash might be found in a speech given last month by Sean Speer, a former senior policy adviser to Stephen Harper. Speer argues the federal government would be better off sticking to its own constitutional knitting — national security, trade and defence — and provinces should more jealously guard their own prerogatives.

“To borrow from Ronald Reagan, protecting provincial sovereignty is kind of like protecting your virtue: you have to learn to say no,” Speer said.

Graefe and Fiorillo point out that any claim to jurisdictional sanctity likely was weakened by repeated provincial demands for federal engagement when Harper’s Conservatives were in power. It’s also not hard to understand why a premier might want something more than abstract principle to offer when explaining to voters why they turned down billions of dollars in new funding to create child-care spaces or hire more doctors.

In the case of health-care funding, the provinces never have a strong hand to play. Not only do they want and need federal money, they can’t hope to escape the blame for shortcomings in health services resulting from a lack of funding.

On child care, reluctant provinces may have had even less ground to stand on. By committing $30 billion over five years, the Trudeau government was effectively offering to match what provincial governments were already spending.

Portrait of Premier Doug Ford, pictured while Kensington Hospice expansion ribbon cutting ceremony at Toronto, on May 23, 2023.
Premier Doug Ford cut a child-care deal with Ottawa just months before a provincial election. (Nav Rahi/CBC)

There were conditions attached to that funding. And not every province was quick to sign on. But once the Liberals were re-elected in 2021, the remaining holdouts seemed to understand there was no use trying to tell voters that they’d be better off if their province didn’t take the money. Ontario Premier Doug Ford made a deal just months before his own government had to run for re-election.

Politics, as much as ideology, might explain much of what the Trudeau government’s activism has achieved. Not only has it enjoyed the power of the federal treasury, it has been pursuing things that are broadly supported by the public. 

A politician gestures to his left while speaking in a legislature.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s statements on housing policy signal an activist approach. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

A future Conservative prime minister might exercise more restraint. But Pierre Poilievre seems more than a little willing to take an activist approach himself — and not just because his party supported the Liberal government’s child-care legislation.

The Conservative leader is, understandably, preoccupied with the issue of housing. He has vowed that a government led by him would do a better job of getting more houses built. Part of his plan for doing so involves using federal funds to “reward” municipalities that get homes built faster — an idea similar to the Liberal government’s own $4-billion housing accelerator fund.

But Poilievre has said he also would go a step further. He would withhold funds from, and even penalize, cities that fail to build houses fast enough.

Whatever one thinks of that idea, it probably can’t be described as “open federalism.” Indeed, it might be the case that Trudeau has ushered in a new era of bipartisan activist government.

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‘Disgraceful:’ N.S. Tory leader slams school’s request that military remove uniform

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4 days ago

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November 8, 2024

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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.

Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.

A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”

Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.

“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.

In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”

“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”

Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.

Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.

Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.

“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.

“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.

“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.

“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”

“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Saskatchewan NDP’s Beck holds first caucus meeting after election, outlines plans

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4 days ago

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November 8, 2024

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REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.

Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.

She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.

Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.

Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.

The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

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Nova Scotia election: Liberals say province’s immigration levels are too high

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5 days ago

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November 7, 2024

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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.

Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.

“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.

“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”

The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.

In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.

“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”

In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.

“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”

Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.

Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.

“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”

In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.

In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.

“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”

Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.

“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”

The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.

“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.

Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.

“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

— With files from Keith Doucette in Halifax

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