Taxpayers oppose Prime Minister Mark Carney’s promise to raise defence spending to 5 percent of GDP, says in-house Privy Council research. “Almost all reacted negatively” in federal focus groups, said a report: “Many believed 5 percent of GDP was far too high.”
The Department of Veterans Affairs has revoked a quota on wreaths honouring war dead. MPs had questioned the cutback as mean-spirited: “Many ridings have dozens of cenotaphs that request wreaths for Remembrance Day.”
Federal programs to have immigrant health care workers fill nursing shortages showed “mixed” results, says new Department of Immigration data. Figures indicate a quarter of immigrants let into Canada as prospective nurses were not hired: “This study reveals a mixed picture.”
At the edge of the parking lot,
in a crack between pavement and curb,
a seedling.
Only about three inches tall, but
I can tell it’s a maple.
It will never grow to its full potential, and
may be chopped to the ground
next time the gardener mows.
Still,
I appreciate the vitality,
the struggle to be noticed in a place
where everything gets suppressed
between a rock and a hard place.
Until then,
there is a seedling.
By Shai Ben-Shalom
When Idle No More protestors shut down the country’s main rail line and besieged the Prime Minister’s Office, Canadians were heard to mutter: Why can’t we solve Indigenous issues? Author Christopher Alcantara finds one answer in Negotiating The Deal, a step-by-step recounting of the maddening process that passed for land claim settlements. It was not really a process at all, and more of a game to drive mice crazy.
Alcantara documents a made-in-Canada fiasco called In All Fairness, the system developed by Parliament to settle claims by Indigenous people who never signed colonial treaties but lived here for millennia and clearly had legitimate demands. Only in 1973 did the Supreme Court recognize such claims, prompting then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau to marvel: “Perhaps you had more legal rights than we thought.”
The idea was to replace “undefined and highly ambiguous Aboriginal rights” with “specific, defined treaty rights.” It seemed a tidy process. Government would come to terms on land transfers, taxing powers, municipal planning, grants and resource royalties.
Why did it so often fail? Perhaps a lack of “trust relationships,” writes Alcantara. The mystery is that it ever worked at all.
Consider this: In 2006 the Inuit of Labrador signed a treaty for 72,520 square kilometres of land, a five percent royalty on one of the world’s richest nickel mines at Voisey’s Bay and $296 million in federal loans and grants. The deal took 28 years to finalize. By comparison, India took three years to negotiate independence from Britain.
“There is no consensus as to why some groups have been able to achieve settlements and why others have not,” writes Alcantara. There was one common trap. Negotiators hired by Parliament and the provinces were paid by the hour and never punished for failure.
In a “deductive approach,” Negotiating The Deal recounts the process. First, a group like the Inuit of Labrador must prove they a) are an identifiable group, b) live on the land and c) have been there a long time. Then they submit a statement of intent to all governments. Then everybody must sign a framework agreement detailing what is up for negotiation. Then they reach agreement-in-principle, leading to a final agreement, with ratification votes all ‘round.
What could go wrong? Everything, which leads to a second trap. Politicians were in charge. In the case of Labrador Inuit, the entire process dragged through the terms of eight premiers of Newfoundland and Labrador. When the Inuit submitted their initial land claim in 1973 – everyone agreed it was an eloquent and well-researched document – subsequent talks lasted 13 years. As Professor. Alcantara notes, a “motivated” political leader can at any time “unilaterally alter a mandate to speed up or delay the process.”
By Holly Doan
Negotiating The Deal: Comprehensive Land Claims Agreements In Canada, by Christopher Alcantara; University of Toronto Press; 208 pages; ISBN 9781-4426-12846; $24.95
Suspending a $3.7 billion Google tax opposed by U.S. President Donald Trump was not a giveaway, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc said yesterday. LeBlanc denied cabinet made concessions to the White House, saying cabinet acted in the best interest of the nation: “I don’t think I’ve called them concessions. I’ve called them decisions.”
Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault yesterday said his agency will try to stop misplacing ballot boxes. MPs on the House affairs committee questioned numerous irregularities in the April 28 election including 822 mail-in ballots that went uncounted in Coquitlam, B.C.: “A ballot box got lost. How can that possibly happen?”
High schoolers have the “ability to form analytically-sound independent decisions” and should be allowed to vote, Senator Marilou McPhedran (Man.) yesterday told the Upper House. Senators adjourned debate on a bill sponsored by McPhedran to give the federal ballot to 16-year olds: “It is scientific fact.”
Costs of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s increase to defence spending will be detailed soon, the Budget Office has told MPs. Expenses would be on top of this year’s estimated deficit of $68.5 billion: ‘It’s more than what Trudeau forecast.’
The union representing Coast Guard employees says members never signed up “to become militarized.” The Union of Canadian Transportation Employees yesterday told MPs it had no warning prior to cabinet’s decision to transfer control of the Coast Guard from the fisheries department to the Department of National Defence: “Can you imagine the surprise?”
Interim Budget Officer Jason Jacques last night likened federal spending to reckless driving on a narrow road. Testifying at the Senate national finance committee, Jacques said troubles facing taxpayers are unlike anything he’d seen in 30 years: “We are not sure what will happen.”
Legal immigrants say Canada has let in too many immigrants, says in-house Privy Council research. Foreigners in focus groups rejected cabinet claims that record high immigration quotas were required to ease labour shortages: “Several felt differently.”
Public Works Minister Joel Lightbound yesterday told Canada Post management to “cut the fat.” His remarks followed cabinet’s approval of deep service cuts to mail delivery: “Come back with savings, efficiencies.”
An internal federal complaint line intended to stem whistleblower leaks to media drew few calls, Access To Information records show. The Department of Immigration was the first to encourage employees to raise anonymous grievances internally instead of contacting reporters: “Media are likely to learn of the new dissent channel.”
The Senate yesterday unanimously passed a bill proclaiming each September Ukrainian Heritage Month. Senators called it a tribute to 1.3 million citizens of Ukrainian ancestry at home and kin at war abroad: “Every morning when I wake up, the first thing I do is check my WhatsApp to see if my family there has survived the night.”
