July 24, 2013 - No. 90

Council of the Federation Meeting in Niagara-on-the-Lake

Failed Attempts at Reform Underscore Need for
New Constitutional Arrangements

All Out for the Rally to Uphold Health Care as a Right! July 24 and 25 -- Niagara-on-the-Lake To download poster, click here. Bus Registration Form -- Travel and Accomodation Information Organized by: Canadian and Ontario Health Coalitions Buses departing from across the province -- contact Ontario Health Coalition for information: www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca  or call, 416-441-2502

Council of the Federation Meeting in Niagara-on-the-Lake
• Failed Attempts at Reform Underscore Need for New Constitutional Arrangements
• Federal Dictate over Provincial Relations Leads to Dogfights over Public Purse
• Ottawa Edges Away from Public Medicare - Natalie Mehra, Ontario Health Coalition and Michael McBane, Canadian Health Coalition

Council of the Federation Meeting in Niagara-on-the-Lake

Failed Attempts at Reform Underscore Need for
New Constitutional Arrangements

The Council of the Federation, comprised of the thirteen provincial and territorial Premiers, is holding its 2013 Summer Meeting in Niagara-on-the-Lake from July 24-26.

The Council was established on December 5, 2003. The aim was to overcome the constitutional crisis on the basis of what former Quebec Premier Jean Charest called "constructive federalism." It was a desperate attempt to avoid dealing with the negation of Quebec's right to self-determination and suggest that a "renewed federalism" was possible if only the Premiers came to constructive agreements. Paul Martin had just taken over as Liberal Prime Minister of Canada following a bitter fight within the Liberal Party. He replaced Prime Minister Jean Chrétien who had become hopelessly tainted by the sponsorship scandal created in his desperate bid to avert a yes vote in the 1995 Quebec referendum on Sovereignty. It was at the first meeting of the Council of the Federation that the Canada Health Accord was established.

From its inception, any hope of renewing the federation has not materialized. On the contrary, the contradictions over federal/provincial power sharing agreements have degenerated into dogfights. Under Paul Martin, the EI fund was plundered and put into general revenues to pay the money lenders onerous interest on loans which did not favour the public interest. Previous arrangements, such as the use of CPP funds to provide low interest loans to the provinces, began to be dismantled at an increasingly rapid rate. Today, under the Harper government's dictatorship, the federal power is imposed -- "take it or leave it" -- on the provincial governments. They, in turn, collude and contend to get a piece of the pie for the private interests they represent.

Why the federation has not been renewed is no mystery. The aim of the ruling elites was not to bring Canada into the 21st century on a modern basis. Everything is done to bring in new arrangements which favour the private monopoly interests that have seized hold of the state power at both federal and provincial levels. Canadian sovereignty lies in tatters. Not just the armed forces but regulations and even government ministries have been integrated into the United States of North American monopolies and their plans for aggression and war. As a result, the rule of law established by the Parliament of Canada has been trumped by the private monopoly interests in the PMO. Everything is done to eliminate the right to self-determination of the peoples that comprise the country called Canada. The only thing on which the establishment forces are united is their determination to continue to deprive the people of Canada, Quebec and the First Nations of their sovereign right to participate in deciding the affairs of the country.

As the Council of the Federation meets in Niagara-on-the-Lake, the state of anarchy and violence into which Canada has been plunged is such that everything is presented as a sparring match between federal and provincial powers and amongst premiers. The people are reduced to spectators left hoping that something "constructive" will emerge. We doubt very much that it will. The conditions are not there for construction, just wilful destruction.

The crisis facing the Council will continue to deepen so long as the ruling circles persist in doing away with any arrangements which uphold Public Right, in favour of enshrining Monopoly Right. Anything which interferes in the ability of the monopolies to exercise unfettered dictate over the direction of the economy and society in general is fair game. This is so obvious that in the lead up to the last meeting of the Council, in the midst of a battle over the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline projects, the media labelled some of the Premiers as threats to the national economy. Various spokespeople of the monopolies have called for a Board of Directors made up of representatives of the monopolies themselves to oversee the Canadian Federation and even veto legislation that comes from the Parliament.

For Canadians, it is obvious that attempts to reform the Federation have failed because they have been based on the negation of the sovereignty of all the peoples of Canada. Whether it was Meech Lake or the Charlottetown Accord or the earlier failed attempts, the Canadian ruling circles have shown they cannot solve the constitutional crisis for this reason.

The affirmation of the sovereignty of the people, starts with a fight for the rights of all. It requires drafting and approving a new constitution. This is how the peoples which comprise the country called Canada will be able to create modern arrangements. If the people of Quebec so desire, they could establish their own Republic but join a free and equal union with the rest of Canada. Meanwhile, the hereditary rights of First Nations must be recognized in whatever jurisdictions are created.

In a country in which the sovereign decision-making power of the people is recognized, everything which the ruling circles say is impossible, will be possible. The working people must lead the way to open society's path for progress by taking stands which defend the rights of all.

Federal Dictate over Provincial Relations Leads to Dogfights over Public Purse

The Council of the Federation meeting at Niagara-on-the-Lake is hosted by Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, the Federation's new chairperson. The program includes a meeting of Premiers and five First Nations organizations: the Assembly of First Nations, the Métis National Council, the Native Women's Association of Canada, the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.

The Council of the Federation last met in Halifax a year ago. That meeting was characterized by calls that the Harper government involve the Premiers in the major decisions it is taking to restructure the Canadian economy and its social programs.

A Federation press release informs that the premiers will focus on "the economy and will discuss jobs, skills and training, strategic infrastructure and fiscal arrangements. Premiers will also discuss progress on the Canadian Energy Strategy [...] Premiers will discuss community and social foundations, including affordable and social housing, bullying and cyber-bullying. Premiers will also discuss progress on health care innovation."

As the ruling circles destroy the old arrangements for how differences get sorted out among their various factions and the various authorities that exist -- federal, provincial, municipal, First Nations -- the dogfights get more intense. These are over health care funding and transformations, i.e., privatization; pipelines for the transport of oil and gas; pension funds; EI funds; and incentives for companies for training. These are seen as posing a serious problem for national unity. The absence of a climate to sort out problems in a rational manner in the public interest is obvious.

Health Care

The Harper government has informed the Health Council of Canada that as part of its second omnibus budget bill, its funding will be cut off when the Health Accord expires in 2014. The Council was established in 2003 as part of the First Ministers' Health Accord.

The Harper government had prior to that unilaterally announced a new funding formula to begin in 2017. It will reduce the federal share of government health funding from the current level of 20.4 per cent to 11.9 per cent. According to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, $36 billion in federal funding will be cut in the 2014-2024 period.

Expressing the demand for the provinces to be consulted over the direction of funds set aside for health care and how they are used to privatize the system in the name of transformation, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne stated: "I've had a couple of conversations with premiers in the last few days, and I'm very pleased that we've been able to move the bar as far as we have in terms of the innovations in health care and the transformations that are happening in health care. The reality is that this is a national discussion. The federal government is part of the discussion on health care and so we're going to continue to need them at the table."

Canada Job Grants and the Elimination of Labour Market Agreements

The Harper government's omnibus budget bill established a new program of Canada Jobs Grants. This eliminates the previous arrangement whereby Labour Market Agreements between the federal government and the provinces gave the provinces control over how training funds were given out. The new program puts into place measures to withdraw $300 million in transfers to the provinces and Quebec that were under Labour Market Agreements. Instead the funds will be paid directly by the federal government to employers as "incentives" to train workers.

After the Harper government pushed the omnibus budget bill through the House of Commons before adjourning for the summer, an article in TML pointed out: "It is expected that much of the redirected funding will be nothing more than disguised wage subsidies for employers. Undoubtedly, much of the funding will end up in the pockets of the Harperite patrons among the Alberta oil and gas monopolies who are said to be suffering the most from 'labour shortages' and 'job vacancies.' Discourse around the Canada Jobs Grants also indicates the program will be used to fund wage subsidies used to sweeten deals the government has on offer to attract investment by other global resource extraction monopolies."[1]

TML also pointed out too that "[r]edirecting the funds may also serve the Harper agenda of weakening unions, especially construction unions." The Harper government's Canada Jobs Grants eliminates previous provincial government arrangements where funds did not go directly to employers, for example, union sponsored training and apprenticeships.

Participating provinces will not only lose their say over the distribution of funds, they will also have to contribute matching funds to companies of the federal government's choosing to keep programs running, or risk being labelled job killers by the Harperites. Federal transfers of $1.95 billion in EI funds to the provinces and Quebec under Labour Market Development Agreements may also be rolled into Canada Jobs Grants as these agreements for federal funding of provincial training programs expire.

On June 18, the Council of the Federation issued a statement expressing concern at the loss of a say over how training funds are doled out: "Premiers recognize that a skilled and productive workforce is critical to creating good jobs and driving economic growth. This is why provinces and territories design, deliver, and report publicly on training programs that reflect local labour market needs. These programs, including some funded in part by the federal government, achieve measurable outcomes and help a wide variety of workers get the essential training they need to find jobs."

The Premiers don't seem to mind that public funds are handed over to the monopolies, they just want to ensure that these funds go to the companies that are part of their particular agenda, rather than that of the Harper government. "Premiers welcome a greater role for private sector job creators, but the proposed changes would take funding from programs that help the most vulnerable people who need additional supports to find jobs."

This fight for the control of hundreds of millions of Canadians' tax dollars is taking place at a time of high unemployment across the country, cuts to Employment Insurance and other broad attacks on the working class that are driving down the standard of living. Nova Scotia Premier Darryl Dexter expressed his opposition to the Jobs Grants this way: "The federal government comes to us and says 'Here's the program and we want you to deliver it.'" Dexter said, "We're not really interested in delivering a plan that we had no part of, one that we don't really know is necessarily going to be effective for the people we represent, and one that runs the risk of actually destroying the programming we already have in place."

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, whose province boasts an army of 500,000 officially unemployed -- a third of whom are youth -- insinuated that training funds, if left under the province's control, will sort out the problem of unemployment. "Throughout Ontario and across Canada, our skilled workforce is our greatest asset. We've been investing in giving people the right training for today's market, and we will collaborate with every province and territory to make sure individuals get the support they need to contribute to Canada's economic prosperity," she said.

EI Reform

Nova Scotia Premier Darryl Dexter is expressing concerns about the federal government's attacks on Employment Insurance and schemes to bring in temporary foreign workers. In an interview with the CBC, Dexter said the Harper government must not understand the nature of the Maritime economy. He pointed out that many workers rely on two different seasonal jobs, with EI tapped to fill the gap in between. "What happens is they leave the community and they never come back, so they are in fact eroding the populations of rural Nova Scotia," Dexter said. In some cases, companies in rural areas where workers have left are then forced to rely on another controversial federal program to survive. "They have created such economic insecurity that people leave those communities, the employers there do not have the people to carry out the kind of work they have," said Dexter, "and then you see more requests for temporary foreign workers, rather than supporting our own workers in our own communities," he said.

Canada Pension Plan

"I still believe that we need an enhanced CPP," she said. "It's interesting, because the federal Finance Minister seemed to have some interest in having the discussion and that interest seems to have waned over the past months. But it's still something that I think is important for us to discuss, again, even if the federal government isn't there right now," she said.

A spokeswoman for Alberta Premier Alison Redford said the Premier would not want to see changes in the CPP until the "economy has recovered." "But it is something that we certainly want to talk to other provinces about," said Neala Barton.

Infrastructure Spending

According to The Globe and Mail, there is also discussion about the provinces wanting a say in how the billions in infrastructure the Federal government has set aside will be spent. "Earlier this year, the federal government announced $53.5-billion will be set aside for infrastructure over the next decade, but it is not yet clear how it will be doled out." If the way Health Care Funds were unilaterally taken control of by the Federal government is any indication, they will be "doled out" as the federal government sees fit. However, the provinces want in. "[Wynne] contends that the federal government's method of funding such projects is piecemeal and that a comprehensive strategy is needed."

"Traditionally, Ottawa has helped pay for infrastructure projects on a case-by-case basis, allowing it to dictate what it will support. Ms. Wynne is proposing that provinces and municipalities have more control, with the federal government disbursing a fixed amount every year while all three levels of government determine priorities. This could include the transit projects that Toronto has needed for years, and roads to mineral deposits in remote regions."

Wynne stated "There's an ad-hoc nature to the way the federal government does it. We need a more predictable year-over-year plan. We need to better understand what each others' concerns are, we're trying to get ahead of economic growth and drive economic growth."

Referring to Alberta the article states "Alberta Premier Alison Redford, who is leading a rebuilding effort after a flood destroyed buildings and damaged roads in her province last month, is calling for Ottawa's help protecting cities and towns from future disasters.

"'We need to ensure the federal government is involved in the conversation and explore the idea of dedicated federal funding for disaster-mitigation,' she said in a statement.

"British Columbia Premier Christy Clark is also warm to the discussion. 'We certainly have a lot of work we're doing on that front in terms of tsunami and earthquake prevention,' her spokesman, Ben Chin, told the Globe and Mail. "It may be something timely to talk about."

Wynne says the provinces can get what they want if they present a united front. "There isn't a province in the country that doesn't have infrastructure issues and isn't dealing with some of the challenges of extreme weather, aging infrastructure and the need for infrastructure investment for economic growth," she said. "The common cause is pretty self-evident."

Fights Over Hydro-Electric Transmission

Reports indicate the fight over transmission of hydro-electricity from the Maritimes to the U.S. and other parts of Canada is heating up. Hydro-Quebec has launched a legal challenge over Newfoundland and Labrador's attempts to transmit the hydro via undersea cables going around Quebec. "Newfoundland and Labrador are developing the Lower Churchill at Muskrat Falls. [Financed by a deal with the federal government -- TML Ed. Note] Many observers believe the best way to sell power from Muskrat Falls is through Quebec to the United States or Ontario. But efforts to negotiate a deal have gone nowhere. [...] Instead the power will take the so-called 'Anglo-Saxon route' from Labrador to Newfoundland and then to Cape Breton via undersea cables. Unless, that is, Hydro-Quebec's legal challenge renders the plan unfeasible."

First Nations Organizations Invited to Raise Their Concerns

This year, the Premiers have invited leaders of five First Nations organizations to address them. "The AFN will make a presentation to the premiers highlighting a number of priorities where action is needed such as education, economic development, ending violence against indigenous women and girls, housing, a national disaster mitigation strategy, and health," the CBC writes.

CBC reports that the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples will be pressing for better living conditions for Aboriginals living off-reserve. "How can you go and get an education if you don't have a safe, warm place to lay your head at night? How can you get training if you don't have an address? You can't," said Betty Ann Lavallée, the national chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples in an interview.

It is reported that housing will be the top priority for the group representing Canada's Inuit. Overcrowded, substandard housing contributes to many serious health problems in the North such as outbreaks of tuberculosis, a spokesperson for Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami told CBC News.

The priority for the Native Women's Association of Canada is reported to be to fight poverty.

The premiers say they will support the call of the Native Women's Association of Canada for a national public inquiry into why so many aboriginal women are murdered or go missing. "It is not a native women's issue, or an aboriginal issue. For us, it's a Canadian issue and everybody is affected by that," President Michèle Audette said.

The Native Women's Association of Canada has said they have documented over 600 cases where aboriginal women have been murdered or gone missing between 2005 and 2010 -- a number the RCMP has told CBC News it can't confirm."

The report did not indicate the concerns that would be raised by the Métis National Council but it is clear the entire exercise is designed to bypass the fundamental issue that all matters related to First Nations must be dealt with on a nation-to-nation basis if solutions are to be found to the problems created by the paternalistic colonial relations which deprive the First Nations of what belongs to them by right.

Note

1. "The Harper Conservatives' Anti-Worker Spin About 'Jobs Without Workers'," TML Daily, June 21, 2013 - No. 77.

(iPolitics, Globe and Mail, CBC)

Ottawa Edges Away from Public Medicare

- Natalie Mehra, Ontario Health Coalition and
Michael McBane, Canadian Health Coalition, July 8, 2013 -

Summer's here and the deepest thought most of us hope to have is what to barbecue. It is not generally a time when significant moments in our politics and society are expected to occur. But provincial and territorial Premiers from across Canada will gather in Niagara-on-the-Lake July 24-26 for the Council of the Federation meetings. This gathering offers a window of opportunity to raise an issue vital to the lives of all Canadians.

This summer's gathering of the premiers marks the final Council of the Federation meeting before 2014, when the National Health Accord expires. Penned in 2004, the 10-year health accord set priorities to improve access to health care and established a new funding formula.

The meetings do not include the federal government and Prime Minister Stephen Harper will not be in Niagara. What many Canadians do not realize is that there are no first ministers' gatherings of all the premiers and the prime minister anymore. Harper refuses to attend them.

The 2004 health accord's funding formula effectively reversed the cuts of the 1990s. It has helped to stabilize our health-care system, improve access and increase the federal share of health-care funding. But virtually all of the other initiatives set out by the first ministers in the accord have since been abandoned by the Harper Conservative government.

Wait times have received the most attention by the media, but progress is widely variable across the country. Dramatic increases in the number of diagnostic tests and significant progress in reducing wait times for surgeries in provinces like Ontario have not been matched by other provinces. While tracking and managing wait times in several provinces has improved, there is still a long way to go.

Equally important, in 2004 the provinces, territories and federal government established a National Pharmaceutical Strategy. Finally, progress was promised toward a national drug coverage program that would actually cut overall drug costs through bulk buying and better co-ordination. But since their election, the Harper Conservative government has refused to participate in this committee, effectively killing the dream of national drug coverage and stalling progress on reducing drug prices for the better part of the last decade.

In 2004, out of the health accord discussions, the provinces and federal government also began work to discuss home and continuing care. Progress on creating a national home and continuing care strategy is vital for more than a million Canadians who struggle with high out-of-pocket costs for post-hospital care.

When the Canada Health Act was written, hospitals cared for the ill and nursing homes and home care cared for the frail. This has changed. In Ontario alone, 18,500 hospital beds have been closed since 1990, cutting our acute and chronic care hospital bed capacity in half. Patients with complex and heavy care needs are now discharged from hospitals into nursing homes and home care. As health care is changing, the commitment of Canadians to health care based on need not wealth remains strong. But our legislation has not kept up.

The Canada Health Act covers medically necessary hospital and physician services. When patients are moved out of hospital, they are no longer protected by single-tier public medicare. They are forced to pay for their own drugs. They face long waits, poor access and user fees for home care, rehabilitation and long-term care. Too often, these public services have been privatized to for-profit companies that maximize user fees in order to maximize their profit margins.

A national strategy to re-establish coverage for those services is crucial to ensure that when patients are moved out of hospital they are not moved out from under the umbrella of public health-care coverage. The Harper government has done nothing to expand the principles of medicare to cover home and continuing care.

In fact, the federal Conservative government's antipathy to public medicare is becoming more and more overt. Not only has it walked away from the table on a national drug program and home care, it has also bluntly refused to meet with the provincial governments about renewing the funding formula for health care. Instead, the federal government plans to reduce funding from current projections by $36 billion in upcoming years, reversing the gains made in the health accord. In the latest budget, the government cut the Health Council of Canada as well as health services for veterans and refugees. The federal health minister has done nothing to implement the National Mental Health Strategy and has taken no action to uphold single-tier medicare in the face of private clinics extra-billing patients in provinces like British Columbia.

This summer, the health-care debate will heat up as health coalitions from across Canada are mobilizing thousands of Canadians to attend rallies and a shadow summit at the Council of the Federation meetings in Niagara-on-the-Lake. If they allow the expiration of the health accord to go by without comment, the provincial and territorial premiers will be missing a key window of opportunity to take a stand for public medicare. Canadians need to know what is at stake and the premiers have an occasion to spell it out. The prime minister should get back to the table. Canadians of all political stripes support the core values of public medicare and expect strong federal leadership to uphold it.

* Natalie Mehra is director of the Ontario Health Coalition. Michael McBane is national co-ordinator of the Canadian Health Coalition.

Read The Marxist-Leninist Daily
Website:  www.cpcml.ca   Email:  editor@cpcml.ca