Over the past three years, Justin Trudeau’s actions have increased tensions within the federation. The SNC-Lavalin affair makes things worse.
Sometimes through deliberate intrusions, sometimes through sheer mismanagement, the Liberals have worsened relations between Ottawa and provincial capitals and among the provinces themselves. Whatever else this government has accomplished, on federal-provincial relations it deserved a low mark even before Jody Wilson-Raybould resigned from cabinet. Now that mark is even lower.
Quebeckers were incensed by revelations that SNC-Lavalin, the Montreal-based engineering giant, had resorted to bribes to secure contracts. But they also watched the new team’s efforts to clean house, and they fear criminal prosecution could wreck the company.
Quebeckers “want to punish the leaders,” of SNC-Lavalin, said Éric Montigny, a political scientist at Laval University. “But they also want to keep the jobs.”
He believes there is support among Quebeckers for the Liberal government’s efforts to secure a remediation agreement that would keep SNC-Lavalin solvent. But the whole affair “was badly managed,” Prof. Montigny adds, with Ms. Wilson-Raybould, the former attorney general, reportedly put under pressure by Mr. Trudeau’s advisers to secure remediation and then removed from her portfolio.
So points to the Liberals for trying, but a fail on execution, in the eyes of many Quebeckers.
In much of the West, the issue isn’t one of mismanagement but of favouritism. For decades, Westerners have chafed at a federal government that, they believe, ignores their needs while pandering to Ontario and Quebec – especially Quebec. The Trudeau Liberals have stoked those resentments by failing to get a pipeline built from the oil sands to the sea. (Yes, they bought the Trans Mountain line, but what good did that do? The proposed expansion is tied up in courts and consultations.)
“Many people here feel frustrated with the federation,” said David Stewart, a political scientist at University of Calgary. “They don’t think that the issues here are treated with the urgency they should be. And the things that came up with SNC-Lavalin feed that narrative.”
For many Westerners, Ottawa jumped through hoops to protect jobs at a Montreal-based firm, even as inaction on pipelines damaged the Alberta economy – just another example of Ottawa in general and Liberals in particular ignoring the needs of the West in general and Alberta in particular.
The declaration on Thursday by Anthony Housefather, Liberal chair of the Commons justice committee, that Ms. Wilson-Raybould might have been replaced as justice minister because she doesn’t speak French, certainly won’t help in the West. Ms. Wilson-Raybould is from British Columbia.
In times gone by, the Ontario government would have sought to bridge regional divides while supporting federal efforts at nation-building. But the days of John Robarts and Bill Davis are long past.
“Ontarians are now aware that there are Ontario issues that need to be addressed,” said Andrew Parkin, director of the Mowat Centre, a think-tank that focuses on the province. Ontario-specific concerns he mentioned include the economic impact of a declining manufacturing base with too-little federal support for workers who lose their jobs.
Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford is at war with the Trudeau Liberals over the federally-imposed carbon tax, the constitutionality of which is being tested before the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal this week. The Ontario government is also unhappy with the thousands of people who have been crossing into Canada at unauthorized points of entry, filing asylum claims and then heading to Ontario, where they have strained the immigration support system.
These concerns may seem disconnected, but they flow from a willingness by the Trudeau Liberals to interfere in areas of provincial jurisdiction. For example, along with the carbon tax, Ottawa forced the provinces to spend money on home care and mental health in exchange for funding.
The price of such federal intrusions is a raft of new tensions between Ottawa and the provinces. The bungled SNC-Lavalin file further stokes regional alienation.
Mr. Parkin points out that the coming federal budget is expected to focus on skills training, while the Liberals may be planning to offer a national pharmacare program as part of their election platform.
Both initiatives are, once again, provincial responsibilities. Mr. Trudeau might ultimately contribute to national unity by creating a common front of provinces united in opposition to Liberal meddling in their affairs. At least it’s something.