In this Week In Canadian Politics, it was sort of a quite week (didn’t help that I went to Boston to watch the Jays take 2 out of 3 from the Sox). However, we still have enough for this week’s installment of TWiCP. We have the Changing of a Geographic Name, the introduction of the Harper’s Accountability Act, Sovereignity in Quebec, Alberta Politics after Klein, and no changes on Passport Requirements.
This Week in Canadian Politics is a summary of postings at Maple Leaf Politics.
What’s In A Name Change
No longer will it be called the Northwest Passage, but the Canadian Internal Waters. When students return to class on Monday, some white out is going to be needed for the text books and the maps. Why the change? So Canada can make a case for sovereignty and security over the vast territory.
“We’re calling it the Canadian Internal Waters now,” says Lt.-Col. Drew Artus, the chief of staff for Joint Task Force North, whose mandate includes protecting Canadian sovereignty over the vast area north of the 60th parallel.
“That’s the guidance that we received. … Sovereignty and the security of Canada and Canada’s lands are important to (the government), and I guess that’s part of their mandate to exercise authority, if you will, over what they believe is theirs.”
Canada is at odds with much of the world over the status of the fabled waters that form the northern route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Basing its claim partly on the fact that Inuit have lived on the waters, when iced, since time immemorial, Canada says the passage is an internal strait.
Most major maritime powers call it an international passageway.
At stake is the right for Canada to overlay those waters with its own rules and regulations, which would mean the right to refuse entry to vessels that don’t conform to certain environmental and construction standards.
That is especially worrisome in the Arctic’s fragile ecosystem, where pollution or fuel spills could cause severe and long-lasting damage.
Michael Byers, a University of British Columbia professor who holds the Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law, called the name change “cute and imaginative.”
“Cute and imaginative”? If that is the case, why not call it the Beautiful Land of Cuddly Polar Bears and Baby Eyed Seals. But on a serious note, Canada has some very serious concerns about this territory, especially after studies are finding more and more natural resources underneath the waters. Harper is going to need to flex some muscle now, to make a point in the future.
Harper Marks Off #1 On The List
Steven Harper decided to use the second week of Parliament to get the number one issue he ran on during the last election introduced – The Accountability Act.
The Conservatives will unveil their Federal Accountability Act Tuesday, which aims to make good on an election promise to clean up government and make operations more transparent.
CTV News reported on Sunday that the bill will include a provision that would make Crown corporations subject to access to information laws.
In addition, spending by Crown corporations, such as the Canadian Mint, would face unprecedented scrutiny by the auditor general’s office.
Treasury Board President John Baird said the accountability act, which has 250 sections, will also protect whistleblowers who report government wrongdoing.
“We will ensure we protect, in a meaningful way, whistleblowers who come forward when they see things that are wrong,” the Ontario MP told CTV’s Question Period.
As well, it is expected to introduce a ban on corporate and union donations to political parties and candidates.
Not everyone is happy with the accountability act, including lobbyists, who say it could make government operations less transparent.
Lobbyists don’t like it, may be this is a good thing. What I am wondering is the impact on the ban on corporate and union donations. Is this going to be the beginning of a stong netroots movement in Canada? Will individuals start to be the ones that are the stongest source of money. If so, does Harper really want this?
Sovereignty and Quebec
There has been a lot of discussion about Quebec Sovereignty. After the January election, it appeared that the sovereignty question may finally be a dead issue after the Bloc Québécois received less than 50% of the vote and lost seats in Parliament. Many people, including myself, became concerned when Harper seemed to be making concessions to the Bloc, in exchange for future votes in Parliament. It seemed that Harper was the seperatists new best friends. But there appeared to be to set backs to both Harper and the idea of sovereignty.
First, Heritage Canada released a poll that shows the majority of Canadians and Quebecers view Canada as a single nation, not two.
A recently released government poll appears to warn Prime Minister Stephen Harper against giving Quebec favoured treatment, revealing that most Canadians, including Quebecers, view the country as a nation of 10 provinces and not of two founding nations. Conducted for Heritage Canada, the national survey found 56% of the population agreed with the statement “Canada is composed of 10 equal provinces, not two founding nations (ie., French and English).” In Quebec, the margin of disagreement was smaller. For the first time since the Jan. 23 election, the Harper government was the target this week of criticisms from Liberals for favouring the province in order to gain votes.
In other words, Canadians are not liking the idea of giving any thing to the seperatists that would stregthen their position. Especially that the movement is weakening itself as more and more of its members wake up to reality. One of those members, author Michael Tremblay, was the latest to smell the coffee.
Renowned Quebec author Michel Tremblay, once an avowed sovereigntist who refused the Order of Canada, says he no longer believes in Quebec sovereignty.
The award-winning writer and playwright told The Canadian Press that he no longer identifies with the movement for an independent Quebec because it has become principally about economics.
What most people in Quebec have started to realize that Quebec would be in serious jeopardy if they lost the flow of money from Ottawa. I believe that many eyes were opened when the Quebec Zoo was closed because the province could not come up with $5 million. People started to wonder what else would be cut if the flow of funds from Ottawa stopped. Sometimes economics makes people start to think straight.
Alberta Politics Post-Klein
With the upcoming resignation of Premier Ralph Klein, Conservative politicians are trying to set them up for a run to replace Klein. One, Jim Dinning, who is considered an early front runner, is trying to distance himself from his fellow Conservative Klein, by stating that he does not agree with Klein’s plan to mix private health care into Canada’s mostly public health care system. Dinning’s concern is that rural doctors would leave less paying position in the country side to take higher paying positions in the cities, thus creating a two-tier system.
“You’ve got to make sure that the 1 1/4 million citizens who live outside of Edmonton and Calgary have access to a high quality of health care. Anything that undermines that, we’re not going to let that go ahead.”
Dinning also spoke out against allowing patients to pay cash for some procedures, including joint replacements, in order to get faster treatment – a move critics say would create a two-tiered health-care system.
Dinning may see the problems politically from Klein’s “Third Way” proposals. If it hurts the rural folks, people that mostly vote Conservative, it will eventually hurt the party.
Another candidate that may try and get Klein’s job is Preston Manning, the former leader of the Alliance Party, which merged with the Progressive Conservatives to make the Conservative Party. Manning, who expressed an interest in the idea, has recently been quite. His supporters are urging him to get in quickly.
The chances of the Tories losing control of Alberta is very thin. Democrats in the United States have a better chance of winning control of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. However, the Tories have found themselves at a crossroads. Do they want to continue down the path that Ralph Klein has put them on or change course. Who ever they pick as Klein’s replacement will show which way they want to go. After Klein’s low confidence vote, it is very clear that many want change.
You Will Need A Passport, Damn It!
US Officials made it quite clear that Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay will not get very far asking for a delay in the requirement that anyone entering the United States from Canada will either need a passport or a special ID card, when he meets with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
MacKay, who’s sitting down with his counterpart here for the first time, suggested this week he’ll raise anew Canada’s objections to a law requiring people entering the United States to have a passport or a new high-technology ID card by the end of next year.
But U.S. sources said President George W. Bush made himself perfectly clear at last month’s summit in Cancun, Mexico, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper seemed to get the message that there’s no turning back.
“There won’t be any change on our side,” said one official. “The administration is not going to go back to Congress and ask it to change its mind. It passed by a pretty large margin.”
There’s also no way to delay the plan, part of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative that passed in 2004, said the source.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day is scheduled to hold a meeting next week on the details with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.
Day’s aides wouldn’t say Wednesday whether he’ll push for changes.
It seems that MacKay and Day would have a better chance talking to a brick wall, they would probably get further. Even though there are growing concerns on both sides of the border on this issue, the only way that this is going to get addressed is if the Democrats win back control of Congress in 2006. Wouldn’t that be a odd sight – A Conservative Canadian government hoping for a Democrat win in the US.
Other Stories Of Interest
Well that is all for this week. I am going to be in the “wilderness” of British Columbia visiting friends and my in-laws this following week. I hope to talk to a couple of BCers about drugs. No, not for purchase, but about their feelings on the recent change in government and how drug decrimialisation may no longer be on the table. Talk to everyone next week.
Canadian Recording Industy Association Not Very Canadian
Harper Denies Cutting Environmental Programs
Tory Day Care Plan “Won’t Even Buy Diapers”
Harper’s Cold Shoulder To The Press Just Got Colder