Control Freak With Mean Streak

Our autocrat extrodinare the RH Stephen Harper the First is; a control freak with a mean streak.

H/T to BigCityLib

SEE:

Petro Politics





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Petro Politics

Newfoundland yesterday proved that it had entered the age of Petro Politics. Like Alberta it gave Danny Williams and his Progressive Conservatives a landslide, an unheard of majority government. And like Alberta, Danny gained his popularity over the Atlantic Accord, and his recent offshore oil deals. And like Alberta he is furthering his political profile by taking on Ottawa.

Unfortunately being a One Party State is not good for democracy.

Harpers Conservative MP's are doomed in Newfoundland Labrador after last night. So the sly fox steals Danny's thunder by announcing a side deal with Nova Scotia to save seats there. An announcement that had been waiting since August to be made public.

Harper not only stole Danny's thunder but being mean to the end, still rejects any return of Bill Casey. Pity since that means he will lose that seat too.

"Mr. Casey is not welcome into our caucus ... when there is a next federal election, there will be a Conservative candidate in Mr. Casey's riding, and it will not be Mr. Casey," he said.

Danny's victory and Steve's side deal was enough encouragement for Lorne Calvert and the NDP in Saskatchewan to announce the obvious.

Saskatchewan goes to the polls November 7



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Huffin and Puffin

This is too silly by half. However it should be noted that the Liberal Party of Canada hides it's excrement too, but not well enough as the Gomery Commission proved.

And is flapping ones wings very hard, puffins flap their wings a hundred times to get going, a backhanded comment on Dion's Leadership?

Canadian political parties might not have official birds just yet, but deputy Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has a suggestion for his party -- the humble Atlantic puffin.

"They put their excrement in one place. They hide their excrement ... They flap their wings very hard and they work like hell," he told reporters at the annual summer caucus gathering in St. John's, Nfld.

"This seems to me a symbol for what our party should be."

Liberals embrace Family Values....

And like a true politician, Mr. Ignatieff praised puffins for their "good family values." "They stay together for 30 years," he said.

Unlike Emperor Penguins who were embraced by the social conservatives for their family values until someone pointed out that they also have shown homosexual and polygamous tendencies.

When dealing with fowling ones image one should be careful of not appearing bird brained.

"My wife and I were very impressed with the noble bird. Noble in my lexicon means underappreciated as well."

Noble ah yes Mssr. Ignatieff does come from a Russian Aristocratic family after all, so I guess he can appreciate nobility and being in Dion's cabinet I guess he also understands being underappreciated.



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Williams Out Deals Stelmach

Newfoundland's Danny Boy brings home the bacon while Albertans suffer from a-give-away-a-day by Eddie Stelmach. And both of 'em are Conservative Premiers.

For months, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams has stared down the country's largest oil companies. Wednesday, "Big Oil" -- as the bombastic Williams likes to call the multinationals -- blinked.

At a St. John's news conference, the premier announced a "memorandum of understanding" outlining a deal that will develop the $5-billion Hebron offshore oil project located 350 kilometres southeast of the provincial capital. In a rare public-private arrangement, the province will invest $110 million in return for a 4.9-per-cent equity stake in the venture. Williams said that will amount to about 35 million barrels of oil out of a possible overall haul of 700 million barrels.

On the royalty side, the province received an improved rate structure that would deliver a new royalty of 6.5 per cent of net revenues when oil prices exceed $50 a barrel.

William's victory of State Capitalism for the Public Good is a lesson for Stelmach as Erin Weir points out;

Williams’ victory clearly contradicts the view that oil is a “globally competitive” business in which governments need to give away substantial resource rents to get investment. In fact, Canadian governments have a very strong bargaining position because our country hosts more than half of global reserves open to private investment. Even the Premier of a small, poor province successfully stood up to the multinational oil companies. This outcome begs the broader question of why larger, richer provinces collect such unimpressive royalties on the depletion of their finite oil and gas reserves.

The irony is that Eddie wants to adopt some practices from Newfoundland, unfortunately not those dealing with oil/resource ownership and royalties. As they used to say about Red Rose Tea; 'Pity'.

Stelmach wants to find out how the Newfoundland and Labrador cellphone driving ban, implemented in 2003, has affected vehicle accident rates in that province.

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Harpers Equalization

King Stephen I will be on a whirlwind trip across Canada today to make equalization payment announcements that have nothing to do with equalization, provincial resource rights or the Atlantic Accord.

Instead in Nova Scotia he will re-announce military spending, in Saskatchewan he will re-announce bio fuel spending. And he will be going solo having not bothered to inform the Premiers of the respective provinces of his pending dog and pony show on their turf.

This is strictly a show for the Conservative Federal Government, to pretend they did not screw these two provinces in their last budget.

The fact that there is no new money being announced, just a rehash of previous announcements is straight out of the Ralph Klein playbook.

For years the Alberta government has announced, re-announced, and announced yet again funding announcements.

It is euphemistically called buying votes.


SEE:

Tories Blame Premiers for Equalization Crisis

Chickens, Home, Roost

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Tories Blame Premiers for Equalization Crisis

So really it wasn't the Gnu Conservative government that failed the Atlantic Provinces it was the other premiers. They insisted that Jim Flaherty come up with an equalization formula that broke their promise not to claw back resource revenues.

From Hansard Thursday June 14

Hon. Jim Flaherty (Minister of Finance, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, as all members know, the premiers had many meetings with the Council of the Federation and they were unable to come to an agreement with respect to the equalization.

The premiers, including all the premiers of the receiving provinces, have been asking for more than two decades for fiscal equity in terms of equalization in Canada and for a 10 province, principle based formula. That is what we have been able to arrive at.

Indeed, the premiers have been asking for a principle based, predictable, long term formula for equalization in Canada. We had an experts panel look at that. Yes, it is necessary that the national government act on this because the premiers could not agree.


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A Deal Is A Deal

Defying the Harpocrites expectations of pulling a fast one over the Atlantic Accord expecting it to all pass by due to the infamous culture of defeat, today their anti-equalization budget faces opposition in the Senate from none other than the Conservative voice of Atlantic Canada; John Crosby. And he is not in favour of the Harpocrites budget. Nope not by a long shot.

Former East Coast Tory godfather John Crosbie sent two me­mos to Prime Minister Stephen Har­per in a vain attempt to convince him to honour the 2005 offshore accords be­tween Ottawa and Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.

The memos provide a strong argu­ment in support of those, like Nova Scotia Tory MP Bill Casey, who argue that Mr. Harper and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty have violated the ac­cords with the March budget.

Certainly, few people know more about the issue than Mr. Crosbie, who was instrumental in negotiating the 1980s deals under which the Conserva­tives under Brian Mulroney ceded con­trol of offshore petroleum to Nova Sco­tia and Newfoundland.

“The authors of the Atlantic council report concluded that this government's budget ‘violates the letter and the spirit of the accords,’" said Deputy Leader Michael Ignatieff. “Even former Conservative Minister of Finance John Crosby said ‘they're changing the equalization formula so that it will cancel out the principles of the accord.’

Meanwhile the rage spreads as more Atlantic provinces realize the Tories have created a two tier form of equalization.

While the new equalization formula will provide New Brunswick with a $68-million increase in revenue for the first two years, the province will receive, from 2009 through 2020, a stunning $1.1-billion less than it would have under the existing framework. While Mr. Harper talks about fixing equalization, not only has he broken his promise to honour the Atlantic Accord in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, but he also has created two classes of equalization.

Acadia University’s Paul Hobson and Memorial’s Wade Locke have done better than running to court. In a study released last week, they ran the numbers on the two equalization options presented in the budget – the old "fixed framework" that uses a five-province standard and the new "O’Brien formula" that upgrades to a 10-province standard, excludes some resource revenues and introduces a cap to claw back equalization if resource revenues push a have-not province above Ontario’s theoretical taxing capacity.

The bottom line: The new system is a financial bust for all four Atlantic provinces over the next 13 years, whether or not they have resource accords with Ottawa.

Jim Bickerton of St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish believes the political battle surrounding the federal budget underscores a lack of understanding between the federal Conservative government and Atlantic Canada.

Bickerton says any attempt by Ottawa to portray the new equalization deal contained in the recent federal budget as a "fair and generous offer" for Nova Scotia and Newfoundland misses the point about why they were given offshore agreements in the first place.

"The symbolism of this went much deeper than simply just a broken agreement," he says.

Agreements signed in 2005 with Paul Martin’s Liberal government protected the two provinces’ offshore oil and gas revenues from federal equalization clawbacks. After a long and at times dramatic fight dubbed the "Campaign for Fairness," the deals were heralded as key economic development tools.

The current equalization offer forces the provinces to choose between a new formula or their offshore deals, a choice both fear could cost them millions of dollars over the long term.

"The broken trust was that the federal government had more or less admitted that this was the region’s one great opportunity to reverse its historic subordinate position within the federation and that it was willing to support them in doing that," says Bickerton.

Locke's work on equalization and the Atlantic Accord have been followed closely in political circles.

This spring, when he determined that Newfoundland and Labrador would actually benefit from the new equalization formula, federal Conservatives championed his work.

However, Locke dramatically revised his analysis when he obtained full details from the federal Finance Department on how the new equalization formula will work.

He found that Newfoundland and Labrador will not only lose money as compared to the status quo, but the province would have received about $11 billion more over the next 13 years had Prime Minister Stephen Harper maintained a 2006 pledge on equalization.

As an Albertan I empathize with the Maritimes. We were there once, in the thirties, despite our coal reserves, it was not enough to keep us afloat as the feds took the resource monies and gave us back a smidgen called equalization.

It was when we struck oil, and had the oil barons take over the State that we declared our constitutional autonomy through provincial control of our natural resources.

Alberta today pays into the equalization payments to other provinces. Not just Ontario. Which irks me no end when the Conservatives talk about capping equalization at the Ontario level. What about the Alberta level, well they don't want to mention Alberta since that might wake up the sleeping giant which hates Ottawa.

Yep you see the broken promise to Atlantic Canada goes along with a letter sent to Saskatchewan and Alberta promising to respect provincial resource rights and not include them in the equalization formula. Signed by the Grande Fromage his-self.

So once the Atlantic Accord was signed it set the conditions for Nova Scotia and Newfoundland to benefit from their offshore resources just like Alberta and Saskatchewan can from their inland resources.

Those resources being oil and gas. Which seem to be unique when it comes to the federal government. Unlike say mining, or hydro-electric power, two resources Ontario and Quebec have but are never considered part of the equalization formula, past or present.

The federal state controls offshore oil and gas reserves in a paternalistic fashion for the good of the provinces where they are. They still control the offshore resources 'in trust' for Nunavut, until such time as that 'territory' actually becomes a province.

Having to give up such a lucrative source of funds, is hard to do. And the Liberals were forced into expanding the Atlantic Accord originally signed by the Mulroney Conservatives. In doing so they gave the Atlantic provinces their just due.

The Harpocrite Conservative opposition demanded the Martin government honour 'their commitment' made during the 2004 election. A promise Harper went on to reiterate in the 2006 election.

But he broke that promise, by tying the provincial rights to resource revenues to equalization payments, a bit of sugar for two years and then claw backs. Albertans would never stand for this kind of treatment, regardless of the party in power in Ottawa.

And the Atlantic premiers as well as Lorne Calvert are correct in admonishing Albertans that Harpers betrayal bodes ill for us as well. Unfortunately it has fallen on deaf ears since the Calgary School Conservatives dominate both the Federal party and Stelmach's regime in Alberta.

It's a matter of fairness. The Maritimes could well become self sufficient with their oil revenues. And then and only then should equalization payments end, as they have with the former have not province of Alberta.

Equalization & The Atlantic Accord - 'A Deal is A Deal' Petition

Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald is encouraging all Nova Scotians and all Canadians to send a strong and united message to Ottawa by signing a petition on Nova Scotia's website.

www.gov.ns.ca/accord

The only problem with the petition is there is no space to put your city or province. So I used the space for phone number (optional).




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Lies & Secrets

Our Harpocrite government continues to be a shining example of the Strauss school of realpolitik; by keeping secrets and telling lies.

Atlantic Accord

Despite the government's insistence there would be no side deal cut for provinces, negotiations have been underway between Ottawa and Nova Scotia since the March budget was tabled.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has decided to offer one of the provinces a compromise that could cost Ontario taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in extra payouts.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty confirmed that Ottawa is looking for a way to end its standoff with Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald over the workings of fiscal federalism.

The offer would amount to a promise that in coming years Nova Scotia would be guaranteed the maximum available revenues – both from resource taxation and cash transfers from Ottawa – regardless of the impact of new measures in the Conservatives' March 19 budget, Flaherty said.

Detainees in Afghanistan

The top United Nations envoy in Afghanistan charged Monday the Afghan government and its Western allies Canada central among them are not making the country safe fast enough.

Tom Koenigs declared: "It is certainly one expression of the insecurity in this country that people turn to weapons. And ... quite a number of those who have been alienated by the government or by the (poor) performance of the government have been alienated by the absence of justice institutions."

While Canada has been prominent among Western troop contributors in helping build Afghan judicial and policing systems in addition to fighting insurgents, Koenigs said increased attention needs to be given to efforts that spread the rule of law.

Canada's top diplomat in Afghanistan said yesterday he will keep a close watch on the progress of an Afghan investigation into new allegations that detainees captured by Canadians and handed over to Afghan authorities have been tortured.

The fresh allegations surfaced during a visit by Canadian authorities to Afghan prisons as part of a new agreement signed May 3.

Coming in the wake of reports that as many as 30 people captured by Canadians were being abused by their Afghan captors, the agreement allows Canadian officials and international human rights workers to check regularly on the well-being of prisoners.

30? I thought there were only four, no wait, add two, that makes six. Thirty?

Canadian officials have received allegations of torture or abuse from six Afghan detainees, two more than reported by cabinet ministers during testimony at a Commons committee last week.

"There is no discrepancy," MacKay said. "There are six in total. Two complaints by suspected Taliban detainees prior to the new agreement and, since May 3 when the new enhanced arrangement was put in place, there were four."

Even National Post columnist John Ivison gets it.

This government's obsession with secrecy and control will be its downfall.

As does the Canadian public.

The Harpocrites practice of realpolitik of the Big Lie is not working except in the fantasy world of the PMO.

One should not as a rule reveal one's secrets, since one does not know if and when one may need them again. The essential English leadership secret does not depend on particular intelligence. Rather, it depends on a remarkably stupid thick-headedness. The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous.

Joseph Goebbels

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Return of the Progressive Conservatives

On CTV's Question Period yesterday ousted Nova Scotia Conservative MP Bill Casey called himself an Independent "Progressive" Conservative, "emphasis on the progressive", he said.

Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams also declares himself a "Progressive" Conservative in opposition to the Harpocrites and is carrying out a Anybody But Conservative federal election campaign.

Add to that this weekends rejection of the Conservative Governments equalization bait and switch by the "Progressive" Conservative Premier of Nova Scotia and we see the beginnings of a new movement to recognize the political reality of truly "Progressive" Conservatives.

The party that former Nova Scotia PC leader Peter Mackay opportunistically scuttled, after agreeing in writing not to, in order to try to be leader of the political Frankenstein known as the Reform/Alliance/PC/Conservatives.

Bill Casey is breathing a sigh of relief after Premier Rodney MacDonald called on Nova Scotia members of Parliament yesterday to vote against the federal budget.

"Premier MacDonald called me today and told me," the Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley MP said in a phone interview from his Amherst home yesterday.

"I was just really surprised," he said.

Casey won support from many Nova Scotians last week after voting against the federal budget.

He was immediately tossed out of the party after the vote.

Casey now considers himself an Independent Progressive Conservative.

Also glad is Progressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia president Scott Armstrong.

"It makes things very easy for people in northern Nova Scotia if the premier and our MP Bill Casey are singing from the same song sheet," Armstrong said.

"Bill Casey's really done Nova Scotia a favour."

With the Liberals abandoning Nova Central, MacKays riding, to Elizabeth May and the Greens, her brand of "Progressive" conservatism will likely appeal to Conservative voters disgusted with the Harpocrites and Howdy Doody MacKay.

In Nova Scotia, satisfaction with Ottawa declined from 50 per cent in February to 37 per cent in May, while dissatisfaction rose from 41 per cent to 56 per cent.

A Red tide could sweep the Maritimes next federal election, not just Liberals but Red Tories; the "Progressive" conservatives, Casey, May etc.

Nova Scotians have long memories – and the Conservative government knows it. There are people down here who are still bitter over the fact that Stanfield, the late Progressive Conservative leader, never became prime minister. To this day Stanfield is commonly referred to in these parts as "the best prime minister Canada never had."

The Tories' expulsion of Casey, who was first elected in 1988, has upset Nova Scotians.

People say they elected him to represent their interests, not play the part of a trained seal in Ottawa.

In Truro and elsewhere in the riding, Casey is being cast as the quiet-spoken constituency man who stood up to the bullies in Ottawa.

"It seems to have struck a nerve because I'm getting emails from all over Canada. ... I am truly overwhelmed because all I am doing is asking the government of Canada to honour a signed agreement," Casey told the Star yesterday.

Meanwhile, angry callers to talk radio shows want to know why fellow Nova Scotia Tory MPs Peter MacKay, who is foreign affairs minister, and Gerald Keddy (South Shore-St. Margaret's) didn't have the guts to stick up for their home province.

See:

Tory Cuts For All

You Tell 'em Danny Boy

Red Tories Are Progressives

Conservatives New Nanny State

No Room for Red Tories

Canada's New Progressive Right

Elizabeth May and Red Tories

Liberals The New PC's

PC=Liberals

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Not A Budget Vote?

Well this is interesting two faced Peter Mackay of the Humpty Dumpty Conservatives is now saying last weeks vote was not a whipped budget vote. So explain why Bill Casey was turfed out of caucus, well he can't.

Furthermore he puts to lie Jim Flaherty's comments yesterday in the Chronicle Herald where he said no side deals were being hatched with Nova Scotia.

Hansard, Friday, June 8, 2007

The Budget

Mr. Rodger Cuzner (Cape Breton—Canso, Lib.):

Mr. Speaker, since the Minister of Foreign Affairs has conveniently forgotten his inconvenient words of a couple of weeks ago, allow me the opportunity to remind the House. He said:

We will not throw a member out of caucus for voting his conscience. There will be no whipping, flipping, hiring or firing on budget votes....

Is this 180 degree flip more an example of the lack of influence that the minister has at the cabinet table or did he actually think that his former caucus colleague would surrender his principles, as the minister did?

Hon. Peter MacKay (Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member has been here for awhile he should know that was not in fact the budget vote. The budget vote will take place next week.

However, with respect to that particular comment, I had hoped and fully expected that the hon. member would continue to work with other members of the Atlantic caucus and with the Minister of Finance to see that we follow through in finishing this discussion with the Province of Nova Scotia, with our premier, direct discussions which I continued yesterday.

The member opposite may be chirping from the cheap seats but, unlike him, we are actually getting the job done for Nova Scotia.

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Chickens, Home, Roost

Here is a lesson to remember, silence is golden, however sticking your foot in your mouth is not an effective way to shut up.

Ottawa respects Atlantic accords

By JIM FLAHERTY

"Over the past few weeks, members of the Atlantic caucus and our entire government have been working diligently towards the same goal: ensuring the people of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland & Labrador realize the full benefits of the Atlantic accords.

But there should be no misunderstanding: Our government is not in the process of making any side deals for a few extra votes. You cannot run a country on side deals. Equalization has been restored to a principles-based program for the first time in many years. That’s what all premiers asked us to do and that’s what all Canadians expect us to do."

NS premier urges revolt against federal budget

Nova Scotia's Premier Rodney MacDonald wants all the province's MPs to vote against the federal budget that alters his province's deal on offshore resources.

In addition, the Conservative would like the Senate to hold up passage of the 2007 budget.

MacDonald said Sunday that a letter from federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty published in a Nova Scotia newspaper prompted his move.

Flaherty said in the letter that the government is not making any side deals on the Atlantic Accord just to win a few votes.

"It became clear that he was determined to undermine these efforts and undermine our good faith discussions. Mr. Flaherty has turned his back on Nova Scotians, and our quiet talks are about to get a whole lot louder," MacDonald said.

Atlantic Accord, Hansard June 7, 2007

Mr. Bill Casey (Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, Ind.):

Mr. Speaker, I am glad the Minister of Finance brought up the equalization payments. Every day he stands in the House and says that Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador can have the new formula and the old accord, but that is not accurate.

I know the minister will want to be accurate. I would like him to acknowledge his own amendments to the Atlantic accord, the 12 paragraphs of amendments in sections 80, 81 and 82 that amend it and the 6 paragraphs that amend the John Hamm agreement of 2005.

I would like the minister to acknowledge his own five amendments and refer to this from now on as the amended Atlantic accord.

Here are the pertinent changes made by Flaherty and the Conservatives referred to by Bill Casey.

Bill C 52 Budget Bill

Canada-Newfoundland Atlantic Accord Implementation Act

Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador Additional Fiscal Equalization Offset Payments Act

See:
Humpty Dumpty Conservatives

Casey Up To Bat



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Humpty Dumpty Conservatives

So who speaks for this Gnu Government. When statements are made in the house, do they really mean what is said.

39th PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION
EDITED HANSARD • NUMBER 154

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Hon. Peter MacKay (Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, what I suspect Nova Scotia and Atlantic MPs will do is support the budget because it is good for Nova Scotia. It in fact allowed the government of Nova Scotia to balance its budget this year.

However, I can tell the member opposite what we will not do. We will not do what the Liberal leader did to the member for Thunder Bay—Superior North.

We will not throw a member out of caucus for voting his conscience.

There will be no whipping, flipping, hiring or firing on budget votes as we saw with the Liberal government.

Or like Humpty Dumpty in Alice in Wonderland do they merely mean what government means them to say to be popular from day to day.

“When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.”

The Humpty Dumpty Government was on the hook yesterday for flip flopping on that promise.

Casey booted from Tory caucus

Ousted from Tory caucus, MP can't access computer files

Renegade Tory MP from NS says he's the victim of dirty tricks

And when caught out on a lie once again they acted like Humpty Dumpty. Of course after a year and a half in power we should realize that nothing a Minister in this Government says is worth anything unless it comes out of King Stephen's mouth.

Atlantic MPs target Tories over Casey ejection

The MPs said the removal from the Conservative caucus of Bill Casey went against a statement by Foreign Minister Peter MacKay, who had told the House of Commons that the Tories would not be "whipping, flipping, hiring, or firing" any of their members for opposing the bill.

"He stuck to that comment as well as he did the David Orchard agreement and the Atlantic Accord," Nova Scotia Liberal MP Scott Brison told reporters Wednesday.

39th PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION
EDITED HANSARD • NUMBER 165
Wednesday, June 6, 2007

The Budget

Hon. Jack Layton (Toronto—Danforth, NDP):

Mr. Speaker, last month the minister responsible for Atlantic Canada through ACOA said:

We will not throw a member out of caucus for voting his conscience. There will be no...firing on budget votes as we saw with the Liberal government.

Not only does the government break its promises to the people of Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia, it breaks its promises to its own caucus members.

How can any Canadian have any faith or trust in the word of the government?

The member for Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley has it right, and he has been very dignified in expressing it. The government should apologize to the people of Atlantic Canada. When will that happen?

Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

The Speaker:

Order, please. The hon. government House leader.

Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

Hon. Dominic LeBlanc:

That's the wrong Peter.

Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

The Speaker:

Order, please. I know the hon. government House leader is tremendously popular with all hon. members but we must be able to hear the answer he is about to give. He has risen to answer and we will have a little order, please, so we can all hear the answer.

Hon. Peter Van Loan (Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, they have somebody by that name answering the question.

Canada's new government has kept its commitment to Atlantic Canada and Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador. They are getting 100% of what they were promised in the accord.

If the leader of the NDP believes in what was in the budget, if he believes it is important for us to have things like $225 million for the preservation of environmentally sensitive land, $1.5 billion for clean air and climate change to the provinces, $400 million for the Canada Health Infoway and $612 million to the provinces for the patient wait times guarantee, why did he vote against those last night and why is he against those things that Canadians want?

Ms. Alexa McDonough (Halifax, NDP):

Mr. Speaker, I want to hear an Atlantic minister, with a straight face, tell Atlantic Canadians that they are not getting a bad deal.

Last night's vote killed the Atlantic accord. Only one MP had the decency to vote against breaking the promise.

Is there one Atlantic minister with the guts to tell his constituents that he will do everything in his power to fix the mistake? Will the Minister of Foreign Affairs admit that last night his government broke a promise to Atlantic Canadians?

Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

The Speaker:

I know it is Wednesday but members would not want to waste time with excessive noise. The hon. government House leader has risen to answer what I believe was a question from the member for Halifax. I could hardly hear a word. We will now hear from the government House leader and will have a little order, please.

Hon. Peter Van Loan (Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, I will tell the member what the members from Atlantic Canada did. They fought hard for the best possible benefits for their province and the result was the following: For Nova Scotia, under the fiscal balance package, more than $2.4 billion and $1.3 billion for equalization; $130 million for offshore accord offsets; $639 million on the Canada health and social transfer; $277 million under the Canadian social transfer; $42.5 million for the environment; and there is more and more.

Those members are delivering for Nova Scotians and for Atlantic Canadians. They are standing up in the way the Liberal Party always refused to do.

Hon. Robert Thibault (West Nova, Lib.):

Mr. Speaker, when I first asked the member for Central Nova to honour the Atlantic accord he said that he would see the Province of Nova Scotia in court.

Last night one brave Conservative member voted in favour of Nova Scotia and was kicked out of that caucus.

On May 15, the minister said in the House:

We will not throw a member out of caucus.... There will be no whipping, flipping, hiring or firing on budget votes....

Is the minister from Nova Scotia misleading the House, or is he simply a buffoon or is he a misleading buffoon?

Hon. Jim Flaherty (Minister of Finance, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, that question comes from a member of a party, the leader of which says that fiscal imbalance is a myth. Therefore, whatever that party has to say about equalization does not really matter because the leader of the party himself says that there is no fiscal imbalance.

Hon. Ralph Goodale:

You broke your promise and you broke your word.

Hon. Jim Flaherty:

I know the member for Wascana wishes that his leader had not said that but he did say that. He said that the fiscal imbalance was a myth.

We are fixing the fiscal imbalance--

The Speaker:

Order, please. The hon. member for West Nova.

Hon. Robert Thibault (West Nova, Lib.):

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister broke his promise to Nova Scotians.

The so-called minister from Nova Scotia broke his word to a brave MP. The so-called minister from Nova Scotia values his cabinet seat more than his own province.

I would ask the hon. member for Central Nova what loyalty means. Were those not his words? Why can he not stand up for Nova Scotia? Is it because he cannot or because he will not? Will he resign as the minister irresponsible for Nova Scotia?

Hon. Jim Flaherty (Minister of Finance, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, personal attacks like that always say more about the person saying them than about the person receiving them. It is unattractive, I must say, to have those kinds of personal attacks here.

However, on equalization--

Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

Hon. Ralph Goodale:

Look in the mirror, Jim.

The Speaker:

Order, please. The Minister of Finance has the floor and we will have a little order, please.

Hon. Jim Flaherty:

Mr. Speaker, the Province of Nova Scotia has the option of electing the new system, the modified O'Brien system, this year or continuing with the Atlantic accords. The province has chosen, for this year at least, to elect the new modified O'Brien system.

What that means for the province in terms of transfers in budget 2007 is $256 million more than in the previous fiscal year. That is good for--

The Speaker:

The hon. member for Labrador.

* * *

Atlantic Accord

Mr. Todd Russell (Labrador, Lib.):

Mr. Speaker, the ranks of Atlantic Conservative dissenters keeps growing. First it was Progressive Conservative premiers, then a list of Conservative candidates condemned the attack on the Atlantic accords and then those Conservatives booted out one of their own after last night's vote.

Now John Crosbie, a Progressive Conservative, has been added to the growing list with a blistering memo proving that the finance minister betrayed my province and Atlantic Canada.

Those Conservatives are like jellyfish: totally spineless, no backbone and sting us when they can.

How can the former Progressive Conservative ministers continue to sit in that caucus and represent their provinces?

Hon. Jim Flaherty (Minister of Finance, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, it goes without saying that we have the greatest respect for Mr. Crosbie, who was a Progressive Conservative minister of finance in this place. I had the opportunity to speak with him about these issues during the course of the past several months and we value and respect his views.

However, in terms of Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia, which have accord agreements, the plain fact is that those accord agreements are the status quo agreements which they can choose to continue with or they can go with the modified O'Brien formula. However, no province will be worse off in Canada as a result of the new equalization scheme.

Mr. Todd Russell (Labrador, Lib.):

Mr. Speaker, last night, the newly independent member from Nova Scotia did the right thing and stood up for his province and his region. He voted with the Liberal Party and against the Atlantic accord betrayal. His five former colleagues from Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia fell in line with their bully boss, the Prime Minister, and voted, not just with their own party but with the separatists.

We had problems with harp seals and now we have problems with trained seals.

With one more vote to go, will Conservative ministers and members from Atlantic Canada finally stand up for their constituents and their province?

Hon. Loyola Hearn (Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, let me remind the hon. member and the House that it was a Tory government, a Conservative government, that gave us the original Atlantic accord. Let me remind him that it was a Tory opposition that forced the Liberals, including some of them sitting there, to get the second Atlantic accord. Let me also remind him that while they are sitting, sniping from the sidelines, like the Premier of Newfoundland, we are working to deliver to our provinces.

* * *

Mr. Bill Casey (Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, Ind.):

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Fisheries just said that they are trying to solve the problem. It is an easy problem to solve and I would like to make it easier for him. All he has to do is say that the Government of Canada will honour the contract signed by the Government of Canada.

It is a signed, sealed and delivered contract. It is a 12 year contract. We are two years into it. Consequential amendments to the budget by the Minister of Finance change the Atlantic accord.

Will the minister now just say, “It is all over. We will honour the signature of the Government of Canada. We will honour the Atlantic accord exactly the way it was written, no amendments. We will honour the work of John Hamm”.

Hon. Jim Flaherty (Minister of Finance, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member knows, he and I have had many discussions on this subject.

Budget 2007 provides Nova Scotia flexibility and more money, as well as respecting the Atlantic accords and giving the province of Nova Scotia the opportunity to make an election. In fact, the province was concerned initially, after March 19, that its budget was coming up that Friday and asked for more time to consider the matter, which we have done. The province has since elected to enter into the agreement for one year to have more opportunities to consider it.

These are worthwhile considerations and at the present benefit—

See:

Casey Up To Bat



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