Symmetry. It was all the rage in rejecting the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords. Things had to be the same for me and the same for them or the nation was at risk...or did we just all vote against Mr. Lip Luck, Brian Mulroney? The idea was no province can be treated differently than the next so any proposal to give special status to Quebec had to be rejected.
Has the passage of fifteen and twenty years make a difference? Sure it has. Once again, it is the Tories who are advocating regional difference but this time from the former bastion of we-are-all-the-same, the West...except it is now they who are claiming difference as much as anyone else. So is a province a province a province or what? Here are some thoughts on provincial symmetry - or asymmetry - as a principle within Canada:
- It is quite obvious that there is jurisdictional differences inherent between the provinces as local law is locally made. And unlike the US, we have not had any great experience of a the unified code movement that has maintained some harmony amongst the US states. No, our provinces are happily semi-sovereign in their own semi-sovereignty. Given that, why do we care if each cuts their own deal with the Federal government? Isn't just an extension of the same thing?
- In all our Federal institutions, we also see forms of asymmetry. The Senate is only roughly representative and tiny places have a greater say than they deserve. Cabals of Quebec, Toronto or the West at one time or another have gained effective control of first parties and then the Parliament throughout history. So why not formalize symmetry or asymmetry as the mood fits to express the nature of this era or that era so that the squeaky wheels get what they want and the rest of us get some peace? Maybe according to a constitutional conference held every ten years in which the biggest complainers get their way.
- And what is so great about equality anyway? We are not much into egalitarianism as a nation even though we pay lip service to it. Rural areas are happily under serviced - especially when the rural is an aboriginal one. Communities which are considered centres have a huge advantage - consider, say, the national museums and, say, Ottawa. Why is it that all the national museums are in one town? Why not sub-branches throughout the land? Because Fat City must have it's due, that's why. Shouldn't we just admit the reality and hand out bus passes for thems that wants them?
- Do some services or jurisdictions naturally require more standardization than others? I mean, if people can move about as they do now must all health care really be everywhere or should people move to the health care? Why can't all the aerospace be in Quebec, the ships built in Saint John or the helicopters in Winnipeg if that makes financial sense. How about support of the arts or science? We all know Newfs really are more insightful and expressive than Albertans and do you really need a National Research Council office in every province?
Remember - this is a Group Project. Be nice, speak up clearly, play well with others and don't argue.
Comments
Gordo - January 15, 2007 10:26 pm
I'll sit this one out, Alan. The concept of addressing provincial "inequities" drives me right around the bend. Even more irrationally than usual.
Gorthos - January 15, 2007 11:28 pm
Just to annoy BR, I will start by making a Star Trek Reference.. I will make my point known in a metaphore just like on that episode of The Next Generation when Picard was trapped on the planet with the alien Captain of the species who could only converse that way, becaus it makes me happier.
Canada is like a family, a farming family. All members are equal, and the father, in our case, the federal government, delegates chores to be done and responsibilties. Those that pull their weight and in fact do more than is expected of them, and whether their choice or not, need less help in ther work than others, is considered by good old dad as a little more equal than the rest.
We all love PEI. SO quaint and cutesy what with the potatoes and red soil and such but really, how many cars were produced there last year? How many big sporting events, how many big technological advanced were in the news popping of the PEI Science Academy. I really like Cape Breton with the Fort and the lobster and such but really, other than a nice bit of trail, what do they truly add to the mix that maked them equal to Quebec? Perhaps, friendship and family like relations, and cute girls, I mean I always found the girls in college from Nova Scotia to be the nicest, in an Orian Slave Girl kind of way, but I digress. Equal in ways, less and more equal in others is equivalent to un-equal, but still fair deals in my mind.
ry - January 16, 2007 7:53 am
Oi! Wot's w'it d'is disclaimer: "Be nice, speak up clearly, play well with others and don't argue." I ain't even been here this weekend?
Hans - January 16, 2007 9:36 am
Gorthos:
Shaka and the walls fell: Cape Breton is not a province.
Hans - January 16, 2007 9:54 am
I think most citizens want to believe that, under the Constitution, all provinces will be conceived equally and have equal powers assigned to them and have equal access to Federal laws and Federal goodies. I think when omnibus or significant changes to the Constitution are being considered that citizens want a baseline level of equality. However, I think when that is achieve people understand that, where there is grey area, there is room for assymitery. One of the major factors in such provincial grey areas is money. Some provinces have more revenue than others due mostly to larger population (the ability for human resources to generate wealth) and larger natural resources (the resources from which wealth can be generated). When some provinces don't have as much economic power as others the Feds are called upon to download some cash into the "have-not" provinces' economies (which has almost always included Quebec, Gorthos). This process has usually been seen to be corrective to make the provinces more equal but recently there has been another view (see Dalton McGuinty) that this process is unbalanced. This is the fiscal imbalance Harper is talking about these days. In theory, the assymetrical negotiations of provincial authority has little to do with the fiscal imbalance related to federal equalization payments. Nevertheless, some provinces have more ability to provide services to citizens i.e. operate within their jurisdictional authority (and maximize their jurisdictional potential) because they have the financial resources to do so. They also, therefore, have a better ability to negotiate assymetircal deals with the Feds based on their economic strength. I, and I think most Canadians, don't have a big problem with such deals PROVIDED there is a baseline equality in the Constitution (mentioned above) AND the Feds can still download cash to "have not" provinces.
I am not going to get drawn into a discussion about regional economic disparity (yet).
Alan - January 16, 2007 9:54 am
But it was a separate colony (and has dreams still) until, what, the 1830s giving it 40 years different claim than PEI. I say it is a reasonable inclusion.
Alan - January 16, 2007 9:56 am
Save disparity for a GP in bleakest February.
Mike - January 16, 2007 10:28 am
Hey, it's "Saint" John.
His arms open.
Alan - January 16, 2007 10:34 am
And me growing up watching CHSJ, too.
Gorthos - January 16, 2007 10:55 am
Hans:
I didn't mean to imply that the Cape was a province, but thanks for the geography reminder. Only noting that I had been to the Cape and enjoyed it. In fact, eating heavy bread and cheese and drinking stout in the pub like restaurant of Fort Louisburgh was one of the best meals I have ever had. I have not been to Halifax however and mere driven through the rest of said province to get to my former in-laws in Sydney.
Realistically though, it is pretty much a province on its own much like NFLD and Labrador are almost separate, if only in mind.
Hans - January 16, 2007 11:50 am
The reason I drew attention to CB was exactly because they have dreams of escaping the yoke of Nova Scotia's dominance but have very little jurisdictional capacity to get themselves there. They have a CB independence movement just like the Newfoundland Liberation Organization and a clear sense of "nation" in the quebecois sort of way. There is no question that it is a have-not region that has been the beneficiary of Federal cash injections on a massive scale and, on that basis, should maybe be included in this "what's good for the goose (bay) is good for the gander (deer lake)" type of discussion.
CBers want the economic prosperity that they see in Halifax or Alberta so does the NS government give some some powers to le tthem try to do it themselves? Would that be assymetircal civicism? Or should the Feds cut side deals with regions (or sub-regions) as well as provinces giving places like Cape Breton or Labrador powers over certain areas of governance? Might this erode the strength of either the Federal or Provincial governments? I don't think so, not if we have a baseline of equality in the Constitution for what are the characteristics and powers of a province of Canada. The problem I have with Cape Breton is: until it gets provincial status, how do you get a basline of equality of sub-regions into the consitution and/or include "regional status" into the constitution?
gr - January 16, 2007 2:36 pm
Seems like gorthos is getting a free pass with that Star Trek stuff up there, huh?
Canada seems to listen when provinces want something big. Here in the states it is very impressive to note how different each state and locality is, which is how the union has been preserved. In New Hampshire you can marry your cousin at 13 and your car can keep the studded snow tires all year round. Vermont will allow no billboards. Massachusetts requires everybody to have health insurance and there is that whole open minded marriage thing. Nevada allows prostitution. etc. My question: does Ottawa regulate the provinces so strictly that they feel the need to break away?
Mike - January 16, 2007 2:38 pm
"North America is a small island off the coast of Cape Breton."
-- my Dad (quoted many many times over)
David Janes - January 16, 2007 3:18 pm
"Cape Breton exists to make Newfoundland look good"
-- my Grandfather, God rest his soul.
Mike C - January 16, 2007 6:31 pm
Where?
George - January 24, 2007 8:11 am
Cape Bretoners are Newfoundland boat people who couldn't afford to go any further.
It seems Cape Breton may actually have a legal case as the British Crown it can be legally shown acted in bad faith in signing over the Colony of Cape Breton Island to the Colony of Nova Scotia in 1820. Refer to the case of Leaver and Ritchie vs. the Crown, and its appeal that the Crown lost as well 1816-1820. The problem was the Crown didn't like losing its taxes.
http://www.provinceofcapebreton.com/Annexation.html