Planning the post health-care summit to-do list
The big cheques and the hopeful political communications that will flow in the days ahead can’t be enough to satisfy us.
Ignoring Danielle Smith is Justin Trudeau’s best strategy as she tries to bait him into a fight leading up to Alberta election
‘The heat in the federal-provincial arena has to do with who’s coming up for re-election and who’s not,’ says pollster Nik Nanos, whose poll recorded the lowest scores on the federal-provincial relationship in 16 years.
Signs of Ontario inching towards a health-care deal may ‘break the logjam’ so other provinces follow suit, as premiers’ united front shows cracks
Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s recent moves on health care and Ottawa’s reaction to them show a ‘pragmatic’ relationship exists, says Liberal strategist Greg MacEachern.
Alberta is, indeed, a ‘distinct society’
The province’s reputation for individualism is more than a cliché. Facing the challenges of eking out a living ranching and farming, people had to rely on themselves.
Growing discontent between feds and provinces
Passing a Meech Lake-like constitutional accord would be the only way to save the country from disintegrating.
Danielle Smith a political mayfly, not long for the job
The idea that a province in Confederation can decide which federal laws it will obey, and which ones it won’t, is absurd. Is it really a step forward to give Smith the right to order the national police force, the RCMP, not to enforce federal law?
Smith wants Alberta’s sovereignty
If Danielle Smith doesn’t like a federal law, she and her cabinet will simply toss it out. Sovereignty in a united Canada—sounds just like the separatists.
It’s time to do something about the notwithstanding clause
The issue of how to constrain, if not outright end, use of the notwithstanding clause should be on the agenda of upcoming meetings of federal, provincial and territorial ministers of justice. A parallel experts’ roundtable could be convened to review options for limiting and eventually revoking Sec. 33.
Ford-CUPE feud portrays Tories as ‘black-hearted accountants,’ an image which could harm federal Conservatives
The CUPE strike has changed the channel from affordability issues to individual rights for now, but other factors will come into play before byelection day on Dec. 12, says Innovative Research president Greg Lyle.
Closing a Charter loophole
So that’s the lesson for all those who oppose the notwithstanding clause. Maybe you can’t close that loophole in the court of law, but you can close it in the court of public opinion.
