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Dix to Clark: Stick Up for BC

Says premier is making it too easy for feds to offload health, justice costs onto province.

Andrew MacLeod 8 Mar 2012TheTyee.ca

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee's legislative bureau chief in Victoria. Reach him here.

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BC NDP Leader Adrian Dix: BC government 'not acting in public interest.' Photo: Pete Rockwell.

Premier Christy Clark needs to do more to protect British Columbians from covering costs Prime Minister Stephen Harper's federal government is downloading to provinces, said B.C. New Democratic Party Leader Adrian Dix.

"I can't imagine why government wouldn't act in the public interest, but the government on these issues is not acting in the public interest," said Dix, citing examples that could affect the amount B.C. will have to spend on drugs and on the justice system.

He made the comments during a week when the premiers of other provinces were raising alarm about costs imposed by the federal government. At a joint news conference in Toronto on March 5, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Quebec Premier Jean Charest issued a strong warning to Harper.

"We're seeing signs that the federal government intends to arrive at a balanced budget by in part downloading to the provinces," McGuinty said, according to the Toronto Star's account. "It's nothing but a shell-game... Taxpayers simply pay the same costs to a different government. In the end, no one wins."

Charest complained about Ottawa's "unilateral" decision making. "We are very concerned about the way the federal government has chosen to make its decisions," he said, noting the federal government is closed to dialogue on many issues. "It's without precedent. We... expect some form of a dialogue, of an exchange. It's the very least we owe each other."

Regular discussions: Clark

B.C.'s Clark acknowledged the cost pressures coming from Ottawa, but was positive about the discussions between the two levels of government.

"I think we have to work with the federal government to manage down some of those costs and work through some of those issues," she said. "We absolutely have to protect taxpayers in British Columbia, and we've been doing that. We've been doing that in regular discussions with them."

She gave the example of health funding, saying Ottawa needs to adjust transfer payments to allow for the age of people in various provinces. B.C., with a relatively old population, would lose $255 million a year if transfers are made without adjusting for age, she said.

"There's an example of where we have had some pretty vigorous discussion and we're continuing to have it," she said.

Asked to what degree it's part of a wider pattern, she said, "It's certainly something we're discussing on a regular basis." The ministers responsible for files likely to be affected by federal decisions keep an eye on them, she said. "Those discussions are happening sometimes vigorously, but always with the interests of taxpayers in mind."

Clark, by the way, has been hiring people with experience in Prime Minister Harper's office. Her new director of communications is Sara MacIntyre, who until Feb. 10 was Harper's press secretary. In January Clark appointed Ken Boessenkool, a past senior advisor to Harper, as her chief of staff.

Push back harder: Dix

Ontario also recently had the warnings of the Commission on the Reform of Ontario's Public Services, which Don Drummond chaired. Their report raised several areas where the federal government is creating costs for provinces.

The federal crime bill, C-10, will increase the number of prisoners and add at least tens of millions in costs, it found. Tax changes and the reduction of immigration services would have an effect, it said. Negotiations for a free trade agreement with the European Union, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, where the parties are discussing extending drug patents, could cost Ontarians $1.2 billion a year, it said.

"I think it's something we have to plan for," B.C. Finance Minister Kevin Falcon told The Tyee on Feb. 20. "I think we can all sort of quibble at different parts of what the federal government may do in different ministries, but all I know as the finance minister of British Columbia is we have to plan with the reality of what's out there, and that includes whatever federal decisions may be made."

The province pushes back against the federal government on various areas of policy, "but we have to plan for the fact they may not change," he said.

And there are some areas where the province may accept some costs willingly. Justice Minister Shirley Bond said that while she is concerned about costs that Bill C-10 could add, and has raised that with the federal government, there are things in the bill the province lobbied for and fully supports.

Some provinces have voiced their concerns in public, but Bond said, "We believe it's actually more prudent to work constructively with the federal government, express our concerns about potential impacts, and work to find ways to mitigate that."

Dix said the B.C. government is "clearly not" pushing back hard enough when the federal government makes decisions that affect the province's finances. "They're not doing anything on CETA and they're not doing anything that one can detect on the crime bill," said Dix. "These are significant costs that are going to affect the services British Columbians get now, because of decisions made in Ottawa and the lack of responsibility for those costs."  [Tyee]

Read more: Health, Politics

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