Quebec Likes Harper?

[Curiosity]

http://tinyurl.com/bgbts

The gravy train still runs to Quebec
By GREG WESTON

Midway through the recent election campaign, Stephen Harper wooed (and apparently wowed) Quebec voters with what has become known as his landmark "open federalism" speech.

While no one seems to know exactly what that means, Harper has long promoted the idea of pursuing a more flexible approach to power-sharing between the feds and provinces -- "new ideas that address Quebec's unique demands in ways that strengthen its place in Canada," in his words.

The election having rewarded the Conservatives with a previously unthinkable 10 seats in Quebec, Premier Jean Charest came to the nation's capital yesterday to find out exactly how open Harper's promised federalism will be, particularly in furthering the enrichment of the province that can never seem to get enough.

The fact that Harper had nothing to say following his first summit with the Quebec premier may be a reasonable indication of who was doing most of the bending over at that meeting.

For his part, Charest was all smiles and laughter when he spoke to provincial reporters upon his return to Quebec.

No wonder. Lost in all of last week's brouhaha over a few of Harper's misguided ministerial appointments was a huge show of political and fiscal favoritism towards Quebec around the new Conservative cabinet table.

While Quebec MPs make up barely 8% of the Conservative caucus, Harper has put them at the controls of all the biggest gravy trains in government.

MP Maxime Bernier gets the industry portfolio, endless dispenser of corporate welfare to Bombardier and other Quebec industries that have long enjoyed hefty doses of federal dole.

Lawrence Cannon, an able former minister in the Quebec government, has been put in charge of a new and giant federal cash cow that combines the transport and infrastructure portfolios, the latter spewing money at cities for everything from subways to sewers.

But no one in Harper's new cabinet will be more popular in the Quebec business community than Michael Fortier, the newly unelected political boss of Public Works (via a Senate appointment), the minister responsible for the awarding of more than $13 billion a year in federal contracts.

Harper's putting so much spending power in the hands of Quebec ministers is a clear signal that the federal spigot will once again flood La Belle Province with public largesse.

But for all the Conservative promises of a new deal for the provinces, Charest's biggest challenge may be ensuring that Harper's "open federalism" doesn't shut off any of the existing cash taps left gushing by Paul Martin's government.

In 18 months of Liberal rule, Quebec managed to extract one sweetheart deal after another from a weak prime minister whose primary tenets of federal-provincial negotiations were capitulate and cut the cheque.

As a result, Quebec has been laughing all the way to the bank.

The much-touted $41-billion health care accord, for instance, included an extraordinary side deal that virtually exempted Quebec from the terms of the funding agreement. Just send cash.

Ditto the Martin government's $6 billion of federal-provincial funding agreements for daycare -- Quebec gets its share of the windfall with no strings attached.

With almost 50% of the country's subsidized daycare spaces already, Quebec is free to spend the more than $1 billion it is getting in federal loot to fix potholes if it wishes.

Harper has promised to kill the daycare funding agreements with Quebec and other provinces next year, in lieu of the feds' sending $100 monthly cheques directly to parents with young children.

No wonder Jean Charest was laughing.

 

[vishliberal]

WOW thats a big joke...the only thing is...right now its true. I guess because Harper has a sense of separatism in him...look how he entered parliament....with a Firewall letter in the Reform Party "THE WEST WANTS IN". He supports separatism, and when he was the leader of hte NCC he made many racial comments towards the French people and French as a second language in general. Another influence was the fact that he claimed that HE LOOKS UPTO RENE LEVESQUE! YEAH RIGHT HARPER! Good Campaign Tactic...it actually worked on them!

 

[Hank C]

Re: RE: Quebec Likes Harper?

WOW thats a big joke...the only thing is...right now its true. I guess because Harper has a sense of separatism in him...look how he entered parliament....with a Firewall letter in the Reform Party "THE WEST WANTS IN". He supports separatism, and when he was the leader of hte NCC he made many racial comments towards the French people and French as a second language in general. Another influence was the fact that he claimed that HE LOOKS UPTO RENE LEVESQUE! YEAH RIGHT HARPER! Good Campaign Tactic...it actually worked on them!

Doubt they support Harper because he is a separatist, you seem to be in denial. I think they support Harper because they are tired of the fiberals and think its time to give another party a chance. Levesque, UNESCO, and other announcements haven't hurt though.

 

[Gerald24]

The Liberal Mafia is on the run!

 

[vishliberal]

Re: RE: Quebec Likes Harper?

WOW thats a big joke...the only thing is...right now its true. I guess because Harper has a sense of separatism in him...look how he entered parliament....with a Firewall letter in the Reform Party "THE WEST WANTS IN". He supports separatism, and when he was the leader of hte NCC he made many racial comments towards the French people and French as a second language in general. Another influence was the fact that he claimed that HE LOOKS UPTO RENE LEVESQUE! YEAH RIGHT HARPER! Good Campaign Tactic...it actually worked on them!

Doubt they support Harper because he is a separatist, you seem to be in denial. I think they support Harper because they are tired of the fiberals and think its time to give another party a chance. Levesque, UNESCO, and other announcements haven't hurt though.

Oh, well you seem to think that the Conservatives only won seats to the Liberals, but what about the Bloc Quebeqois...why did they lose votes too then? They were not in the same position for the Liberals, so im afraid that excuse wont work .Quebec was quite content with the Blocs support. Also, for the records, im not denying the fact that perhaps some voted for change when voting for the Conservatives, however, that happened ALL OVER CANADA buddy. I am talking about in Quebec specifically. Explain something....who was Rene Levesque?? And did he support SEPARATISM??? You did claim that those announcements did help him...why, whats so special about Levesque? Harper was smart, he made sure he went on the fence with this one, he did, on one side talk about open federalism, which isnt by any chance separation, and on the other hand, he makes a statement like this, about looking up to a main Quebec separatist. what do you think he meant?..read between the lines!

On another note, people did vote for the Conservatives for change....I agree...but intrestingly enough...the Conservatives are failing to deliver in their first TWO WEEKS in power! I can guarantee you that no LIBERAL has messed up so bad in their first two weeks buddy!

 

[Colpy]

Re: RE: Quebec Likes Harper?

WOW thats a big joke...the only thing is...right now its true. I guess because Harper has a sense of separatism in him...look how he entered parliament....with a Firewall letter in the Reform Party "THE WEST WANTS IN". He supports separatism, and when he was the leader of hte NCC he made many racial comments towards the French people and French as a second language in general. Another influence was the fact that he claimed that HE LOOKS UPTO RENE LEVESQUE! YEAH RIGHT HARPER! Good Campaign Tactic...it actually worked on them!

Doubt they support Harper because he is a separatist, you seem to be in denial. I think they support Harper because they are tired of the fiberals and think its time to give another party a chance. Levesque, UNESCO, and other announcements haven't hurt though.

Oh, well you seem to think that the Conservatives only won seats to the Liberals, but what about the Bloc Quebeqois...why did they lose votes too then? They were not in the same position for the Liberals, so im afraid that excuse wont work .Quebec was quite content with the Blocs support. Also, for the records, im not denying the fact that perhaps some voted for change when voting for the Conservatives, however, that happened ALL OVER CANADA buddy. I am talking about in Quebec specifically. Explain something....who was Rene Levesque?? And did he support SEPARATISM??? You did claim that those announcements did help him...why, whats so special about Levesque? Harper was smart, he made sure he went on the fence with this one, he did, on one side talk about open federalism, which isnt by any chance separation, and on the other hand, he makes a statement like this, about looking up to a main Quebec separatist. what do you think he meant?..read between the lines!

On another note, people did vote for the Conservatives for change....I agree...but intrestingly enough...the Conservatives are failing to deliver in their first TWO WEEKS in power! I can guarantee you that no LIBERAL has messed up so bad in their first two weeks buddy!

Its quite simple really.

Rene Levesque (a good New Brunswick lad actually, not born pur laine Quebecois) was the man that brought the PQ to power in Quebec, and led them to the first referendum. For that (making sovereignty seem possible) he is revered by hard nationalists in Quebec.

He was also a man that would take a drag off his ever-present smoke, shrug, and tell you exactly what he thought. A rare thing in a politician, and something to be admired by folks of any political stripe.

 

[Colpy]

Oh yeah!

And you think the CPC should deliver in TWO WEEKS!

Perhaps you should wait until Parliament sits, eh BUDDY!?

 

[Finder]

Well to be honest, Quebec is not just a havan for Social Democrats and Liberals. Really there are a lot of Conservative minded people who live there who give there soft support to both the Bloc and the Liberals. I guess once there was a sizable vote towards the Conservatives more and more soft liberal voters who are conservatives felt that there vote would not be wasted in a vote for the conservatives.

 

[Numure]

Well to be honest, Quebec is not just a havan for Social Democrats and Liberals. Really there are a lot of Conservative minded people who live there who give there soft support to both the Bloc and the Liberals. I guess once there was a sizable vote towards the Conservatives more and more soft liberal voters who are conservatives felt that there vote would not be wasted in a vote for the conservatives.

Actually, the majority of the people here, Seperatists or not, are Social Democrats. True conservatives are rare. What made them appeal to the cons, is his promises to Québec. We know, that Ottawa can't do much about our social issues here. So what was important to us, is how he was going to run the federal government. He promised to respect provincial juristiction, something we've all been asking for, for a LONG time. Fiscal imbalance, is something we've been wanting to solve for years. He promised to tackle that problem as well.

Just the promise to respect constitutional divisions of power we're enough to sway Québécers.

 

[Jay]

Just the promise to respect constitutional divisions of power we're enough to sway Québécers.

And since this is a notion completely lost to left wing types, I suspect conservatives will only capture ground in Quebec. It’s a good thing!

 

[vishliberal]

Re: RE: Quebec Likes Harper?

Oh yeah!

And you think the CPC should deliver in TWO WEEKS!

Perhaps you should wait until Parliament sits, eh BUDDY!?

Perhaps you should understand what I am saying and what other Canadians say before you reply, because you can easily make yourself look like a fool.. :wink:

So to clarify what I said and didnt say...I NEVER once said that the CPC should deliver in two weeks, I said, look at what they DID in two weeks...and it is all over the media...from appointing fortier, etc. from what we are seeing...its nothing to be proud of in terms of accountability and many people agree. I NEVER SAID THAT HE SHOULD DELIVER IN TWO WEEKS! You are starting another discussion that is in another thread, and is irrelevant from this particular subject...if you would like to continue this particular discussion. So please, dont confuse yourself and other people here, I said that in two weeks he hasnt done much good for Canadians based on his actions. And also, I WILL wait for parliament to begin too...and yes, WE WILL see what happens buddy!

 

[Lotuslander]

I don't think Quebec likes Harper per se they are however, willing to give him a chance for a number of reasons one being his open federalism speech. Somebody hit the nail on the head when they stated that social issues are not a big deal in Quebec at the federal level, the provincial government takes care of that and "national" programs such as childcare are non-starters because Quebecois may want social programs but are less interested than other Canadians in the programs being national or not.

In Quebec there has always been a strong conservative streak the so called "font bleus" this sentiment has lost ground since the quiet revolution but is still apparent from time to time especially in the Eastern Townships. The Bloc also can only go so far as a party that does not want to participate in government. They want to protect Quebec's interests which appeals to many but, even in a minority parliament their power is limited because most decision making power is vested in cabinet I think this made people want to look at other options. As for the Liberals the sad truth is they were a tired party with a less than stellar fornt bench and a leader who wanted to be too many things to all people. I don't want to speak for Quebeckers but out here it looked like Paul Martin had no direction and no plan whcih I think instinctively made people vote for someone or a party which had direction and could speak plainly about thier ideas and vision for the future.

As for Harper being a separatist. There are many different visions of Canada the most contentious being the debate between a federal, confederal or unitary state. This of course was one of the big topic of debate for the Fathers of Confederation. Many in Quebec along with Westerners and other believe that provinces should have more independence over their own affairs vis a vis the federal government. Some even question the point of having provinces if social policy is simply going to be dictated to them form Ottawa. I not saying that I agree with Harper's vision of Canada, however, in recent years there has been too much of a centralising trend, magnified by the surpluses which the feds reel in every year. By contrast the provinces which have a much more limited tax base are left paying for the most expensive social p[rograms but lack the fiscal and tax capacity to provide long-term stable funding for them. I think that it is obvious to all that at the least a review of the tax structure needs to be undertaken.