I am of two minds on this. As a Canadian, I want a strong federation, where everyone is equal. I am against special status for Quebec on principle. Is not every part of Canada different from the rest?
However, as an Albertan, I am sick of the feds impinging on provincial territory and do not trust them not to trample over the rights of Alberta by putting up some sort of NEP II, or something similar. I am also tired of transfer payments. What incentive is there for "poor" provinces to sort out their economies with transfer payments? As long as more of the tax money from the rich provinces go to support the poor, the more they can continue to follow tired, failed economic policies. I am not against some type of transfer, as we have, in principle, a requirement to help the less fortunate. However, there is no reason for Quebec to be one of these provinces. It is a large province with abundant natural resources, and should be a net contributor to Canada.
Therefore, any time Quebec gets some type of special status, my Canadian side worries, as this makes out country less united, but my Alberta side is happy, as this erodes the ability of the feds to interfere with the jurisdiction of all provinces.
Does anyone have any comments on this?
Update: I was unable to link to Andrew Coyne's site and the article (http://www.andrewcoyne.com/) which appeared in the the 25 Sept 2004 edition of the National Post. His site has some sort of page error and I cannot find the article.
1 comment:
A 'special deal' is only 'special' if nobody else can get it. If it's available to any province, then it's not preferential treatment.
Having said that, I find it suspicious that Quebec gets the first of these deals supposedly available to everyone.
And you're right: the feds need to get the hell out of provincial jurisdictions - responsibilities, as well as tax bases.
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