Confederation
I think we need to start rethinking confederation. The simple fact that there is a federal party with a lot of support who's main goal is the sovereign interest of one and only one province, implies confederation is in hot water. It tells me that Provinces are obsolete. Pretend that Ontario started to form a party similar to the bloc quebecois but who only holds Ontario's interest at heart. Ontario supports most of the other provinces since it is much wealthier, so what would happen if a party came in and said they only want policies that would favor Ontario (i.e. policies that keep Ontario's money in Ontario)? Well Ontario has almost a third of the seats in the house of commons so they could form a minority government on their own! They could work with the bloc (another quarter of the seats) and pass policies to keep their money to themselves. This would be great for Ontario and Quebec (BC as well), but the Atlantic provinces get the short end of the stick!
But now take a closer look at the idea. In the Ontario, Toronto is the financial engine of the province just as Montreal is in Quebec. So these provincial parties will get split on the fact that the cities are the generators of the money but the provinces where designed so that there would be a voice for the rural communities (the primary shape of the provinces at confederation). Now, the cities have become the driving force of the economy and the cities are on equal footing with rural communities. This is seen by having ridings with 20,000 voters in them in rural places, but in cities the riding have around 100,000 eligible voters (not counting the ineligible). The federal parties will have the same situation as the provincial parties in that more elected representatives come from the rural less populated areas but the cities generate al the money and pay for everything. Ergo the big cities will start asking why are we subordinate to the province when we pay for everything?
The fact that the city of Toronto has a budget greater than the Province of P.E.I. and more people begs the question why doesn't it have more power? If Toronto had the title of province it would be able to regulate it's own policies that favored it's development instead of paying for every one else's needs (Toronto gives 9 Billion more in tax dollars than it receives in services). This would obviously pave the way for Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver etc to do the same and then where would Canada be?
The very fact that the Bloc is doing so well to me says that provincial politics has become very irrelevant. The lines need to be redrawn. Most things that are provincial should be federal (education, health etc) so that all Canadian get equal treatment and opportunities and the provinces should be seen as an amalgamation of rural communities on par with cities. So the provincial governments would then become the sum of all rural communities in a province and cities would be allowed to cede from this once they become self sustainable (like Toronto). This way the political landscape would be municipal/provincial (where provincial now means all rural communities who aren't cities) and the federal government. This would eliminate some government and rebalance politics to reflect the fact Canada is increasingly an urban country.
But now take a closer look at the idea. In the Ontario, Toronto is the financial engine of the province just as Montreal is in Quebec. So these provincial parties will get split on the fact that the cities are the generators of the money but the provinces where designed so that there would be a voice for the rural communities (the primary shape of the provinces at confederation). Now, the cities have become the driving force of the economy and the cities are on equal footing with rural communities. This is seen by having ridings with 20,000 voters in them in rural places, but in cities the riding have around 100,000 eligible voters (not counting the ineligible). The federal parties will have the same situation as the provincial parties in that more elected representatives come from the rural less populated areas but the cities generate al the money and pay for everything. Ergo the big cities will start asking why are we subordinate to the province when we pay for everything?
The fact that the city of Toronto has a budget greater than the Province of P.E.I. and more people begs the question why doesn't it have more power? If Toronto had the title of province it would be able to regulate it's own policies that favored it's development instead of paying for every one else's needs (Toronto gives 9 Billion more in tax dollars than it receives in services). This would obviously pave the way for Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver etc to do the same and then where would Canada be?
The very fact that the Bloc is doing so well to me says that provincial politics has become very irrelevant. The lines need to be redrawn. Most things that are provincial should be federal (education, health etc) so that all Canadian get equal treatment and opportunities and the provinces should be seen as an amalgamation of rural communities on par with cities. So the provincial governments would then become the sum of all rural communities in a province and cities would be allowed to cede from this once they become self sustainable (like Toronto). This way the political landscape would be municipal/provincial (where provincial now means all rural communities who aren't cities) and the federal government. This would eliminate some government and rebalance politics to reflect the fact Canada is increasingly an urban country.
posted by Eddie | 12:47 AM
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