Premier Kathleen Wynne was staying on high ground again last night in the aftermath of Ontario’s byelections. She was as cool in the frenetic run-up to this week’s votes as she has been about the gas plant fiasco.
Yesterday the Liberals continued to bewilder their opponents, holding on to two seats and losing a third by a whisker. Andrea Horwath’s New Democrats were big winners in gaining a couple of seats. And the Progressive Conservatives took one seat with help from Mayor Rob Ford. There was no knockout punch.
Turning the clock back a week, Wynne was refreshingly honest in her interview with QPB following the Council of the Federation meeting in Niagara-on-the-Lake. The premier talked about the pressure she felt going into the meeting as chair, her worries about getting it right, establishing a collegial tone and coming out with some positive outcomes.
Wynne clearly did a good job at the meeting, managing a dense agenda and getting results, but she had no hesitation in being frank about her nervousness. A bit of humility goes a long way in the exercise of leadership.
It might be assumed that these meetings are a slam dunk for premiers with pre-scripted agreement on ways of wrestling more money from the federal government. COF meetings are obviously complicated by regional, political and fiscal differences.
But despite differences in views on the newly announced federal Job Grants, which would be partly paid for from claw-backs from the provinces, Wynne was successful in steering her colleagues towards an agreement to oppose the controversial program.
There was consensus too on a proposal to include cyber-bullying and bullying in the Criminal Code, and on infrastructure spending and disaster relief. The premiers also re-affirmed their interest in a national pharmacare plan. Certainly enough for the meeting to be declared a success.
Interestingly, in a subtle shift of branding in the headlines of their communiques the premiers referred to themselves as “Canada’s Premiers”. This will be seen by aides as a shift by the premiers away from a “COF” emphasis and towards a focus on areas that are important to all Canadians.
COF meetings have unique atmospherics. Bear in mind that the room is full of people who are used to being the biggest person in every room they walk in to but in this context they are among equals who share similar jobs and pressures. So the COF is a remarkable equalizer – sort of. The big players are obviously Ontario, Quebec, B.C. and Alberta, but the tenure of premiers is a factor too. It is a rare opportunity to observe the informal pecking order.
I recall Dalton McGuinty’s first provincial-territorial meeting in Charlottetown in 2003. Ontario’s newly minted premier walked into a room full of heavyweights, including Ralph Klein, Danny Williams, Gordon Campbell, Jean Charest and Bernard Lord. And among them some egos that would make <a href="http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/columnists/guillem-balague/Why-Cristiano-Ronaldo-s-ego-is-making-him-a-huge-threat-both-to-himself-and-to-opponents-Guillem-Balague-column-article304267.html">Ronaldo</a> blush.
McGuinty found his feet quickly and within months was in the role of chair going in to the federal-provincial Health Accord talks with prime minister Paul Martin in Ottawa. Some big personalities were in play again with a bit of a tussle about who was going to be the toughest negotiator. You can imagine.
In retrospect the provinces did well in 2004 leaving Ottawa with a 10-year health accord with an annual six percent escalator. McGuinty also left Ottawa with the respect of his counterparts.
As <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/07/23/kathleen_wynne_to_chair_historic_premiers_conference_where_women_run_the_show.html">Robert Benzie</a> has pointed out, the COF is no longer a boy’s club. More than 87 per cent of Canadians live in provinces governed by female Premiers – Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nunavut. What a different room it must have been with Wynne, Alison Redford, Pauline Marois and Christy Clark at the table.
The gas plant issue came up again this week. Emails released by the government revealed that senior staffers in the premier’s office had talked about an effort to influence Speaker Dave Levac’s decision on an opposition contempt motion, and had sought high-level legal advice on their ability to challenge the decision.
Despite the fact that Levac`s decision went against the government, that it was not challenged and that Levac himself said he was not pressured about his ruling, the PCs were up in arms again and calling for another inquiry.
Attempting to influence the Speaker would be a desperate move. But it would not be entirely surprising to those who have worked closely with governments of all political stripes. Politics is a messy business, especially in the context of the sort of hand-to-hand combat waged by the opposition since the last election.
The crass politicization of legislative committees has served the public interest to some degree by what is surely the most extensive and expensive release of government documents since the invention of the filing cabinet.
But the extent of this disclosure has re-drawn the landscape of historical conventions and expectations about the confidentiality of government records.
You might wonder if either of the two major opposition parties will want to practice the same degree of transparency if and when one has an opportunity to assume power.  If they are governing with a minority they are not going to be given much choice.
The Liberals got themselves into the gas plant mess but to use another soccer analogy the political gloating of some opposition members has been as annoying as a Ronaldo hat trick.
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Dean: Wynne cool as Liberals confound pundits

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