July 28, 2013

By Andrew Phillip Chernoff

Me, myself and I had a really good time debating the point and consequence of the Council of the Federation summer meeting from July 24-26, 2013 at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

They agreed to have Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island host the 2014 Council of the Federation summer meeting.

So what else did they do?

• The Premiers announced they are committed to a fair and inclusive society, taking positions on support for persons with disabilities, mental health, affordable and social housing, retirement income, bullying and cyber-bullying.

What the Premiers did not admit was while they had no problem talking about committing to a fair and inclusive society, the Premiers as a federation, as they did prior to the 2013 summer meeting, have done little to improve the lives of people with disabilities, mental health issues; little to improve affordable and social housing, retirement income.

Further, bullying and cyber-bullying will I believe continue to a persuasive issue, with little serious impact on the curtailing of the problem.

The Premiers did not provide any public outrage behind the Harper Conservative governments lack of positive leadership on the subject of a fair and inclusive society and how the federal governments legislation, platform and one-percent policies have contributed to the continued erosion of a fair and inclusive society in Canada.

• The Council of the Federation announced that Canadians will realize real savings in healthcare through collaboration.  Included in this is lowering the cost of pharmaceutical drugs. Don’t get too excited.

Unlike Canada other countries in the world establish fixed price limits that they will pay for prescription drugs. What this means, though, is that pharmaceutical companies raise their prices for prescription drugs sold in the U.S. and Canada to make up for charging lower prices throughout the rest of the world.

Savings on a couple dozen pharmaceutical drugs for Canadians is nothing but an embarrassment to an ever aging and longer living Canadian population, that built a country that the Premiers and the Prime Minister as the Pied Pipers of “the one-percent” are mortgaging and selling out.

• The Premiers also talked about disaster mitigation, emergency preparedness and response, and rail safety. For years, the Premiers and the Prime Ministers of the governing party in power, have ignored environmental concerns; the aging infrastructure of cities, and all communities in Canada, allowing “the one-percent” to imperialise Canadian resources and products at any cost.

It didn’t matter whether the cost was our environment, the health and safety of our rail, roads, waterways; the resources had to be tapped, extracted, delivered by any means. Damned be the environment; health and safety of Canadians, or future generations of Canadians.

Once again, the Harper government provides little real leadership. He takes his position and does as he is told by “the one-percent”.

• Premiers discussed their shared commitments to fiscal responsibility and to protecting and sustaining essential public services, including health care, education and social services. They also stressed the importance of modernizing federal, provincial and territorial financial arrangements to ensure that they reflect current realities and support economic development.

Once again….it’s all talk. Stephen Harper has made it clear, as the BC Liberal Christy Clark government has with the public sector: there will be no new money. You get what you get from the federal government. Trim down and reinvest the realized savings into your programs and services.Sound familiar Christy?

It is clear, that there will be no province in the country that will escape the continued austerity measures of the Stephen Harper led federal government. To think things will change is unrealistic when the Pied Pipers of “the one-percent” call the shots, making it possible for his unchecked arrogance and continued corruption of power.

• Jobs and the economy are key priorities for Canada’s Premiers.

Shouldn’t they be?  Why should that be a KEY priority. It should go without saying, that provincial economies and jobs are the main task of the Premiers as stewards of their provinces. Without sufficient jobs and business opportunities for the citizens in their particular provinces, their reign being the supreme leader of “the one-percent” in their province is precarious at best.

The trick of these Premiers is simple to say, harder to do. That is, to paraphrase a quote from the Bible: Render to unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s (Caesar in this case being “the one-percent”) and unto the citizens of the province those things that will allow the people to be sustained and prosper, so the government of the day will stay in power and Caesar will stay satisfied.

Of course, it will not work as well, because Harper wields a big stick and keeps his sheep in line. That is evident clearly with the Canada Job Grant. The Premiers were clear they do not like it. Harper could care less. He has made that clear.

In conclusion, it is clear that Harper has succeeded in muzzling the Premiers of this country, and has each one in his back pocket. He is the master conductor of the Pied Pipers of “the one-percent”.

Once again again, the 99 per-cent of Canadians lose.

Take care…..keep smiling…may the force be with you….work safe…drive safe….be good to each other….live long and prosper…..just saying…..

Signed,

Me

COPYRIGHT ANDREW PHILLIP CHERNOFF 2013