Toronto minister reduces bad politics
PM Justin Trudeau defends decision not to appoint an Atlantic MP to ACOA
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he appointed an MP from Toronto to head the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency to “reduce the kind of politics” that have plagued regional development agencies.
In a one-on-one interview with The Guardian last week, Trudeau said he wanted all regional development agencies under one roof, so he added them to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains’ portfolio.
Bains listens to the regional perspectives and advice of local employees, but can also oversee regional agencies as “a way of reducing the kind of politics that we’ve always seen from regional development agencies,” Trudeau said last week while in P.E.I.
“It’s something that has benefitted the quality of decisions being made and it’s something people appreciate of a new, more open, more responsible, more transparent way of doing politics.” ACOA (Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency) has long faced criticism for patronage appointments – criticism that led to sanctions after the Public Service Commission found four top ACOA executives engaged in improper conduct when they hired former Conservative politician Kevin MacAdam as director general of operations for ACOA P.E.I. in 2011.
Similar patronage concerns also led to the firing of the CEO of Enterprise Cape Breton in 2014, before that agency was rolled into ACOA.
Last year, former interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose said she believes the ACOA portfolio being given to a Toronto MP is a snub to the region that elected Liberals in every single Atlantic Canadian riding. But Trudeau dismissed any notion he is taking the region for granted.
“On the contrary, we continue to work extremely hard, I’ve met with Wade (MacLauchlan) many times, we have a tremendous level of agreement on the things we need to work for,” Trudeau said.
“I see an extraordinary, bright future for Atlantic Canada, one that doesn’t minimize the real challenges, but looks at the opportunities that come with transforming the workplace and global economy as a chance to step up.”
Q&A
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sat down with The Guardian’s Teresa Wright during his visit to P.E.I. for an exclusive, one-on-one interview. Here are highlights of that conversation.
Electoral reform Q: Why do you believe it is OK to break your promise of electoral reform?
A: I think Canadians expect me to do things that are in the interest of the country and make the right decisions for our society, for our communities and for our democracy. And I will not keep a promise or tick a box off on a list if it means it will be hurting our country.
I’ve always believed that I don’t think proportional representation suits Canada because I think it leads to fragmentation of our political parties into smaller groups instead of having larger political parties that represent a range of diversity within them as we do right now.
And I think the creation of regional or niche parties is not necessarily in keeping with the best way to govern a country that has figured out a way to make diversity a source of strength and not a source of weakness.
Q: Islanders did have an opportunity to vote on electoral reform and a majority voted in favour of proportional representation. You say you don’t think it’s in the best interest of Canadians to vote on this. Why not?
A: I think anything that subdivides and fragments Canadians into smaller and smaller interest groups, doesn’t go in the keeping of bringing Canadians together around the themes that we agree on.
We are a country that has done very well in emphasizing the things that we share instead of highlighting fault lines and where we’re different.
I’ve been open to it, but I have never been able to be convinced by anyone wanting proportional representation that it would end up with a better path for Canada.
Q: Voters are increasingly becoming cynical about politics and politicians. What do you say to young Island voters who voted for you because you promised electoral reform?
A: A lot of people vote for people for different reasons and our central promise and what we campaigned on and what we’ve been focused on every single day is growing the economy in ways that work for the middle class.
Confederation Bridge Q: You made the bridge in your Montreal constituency free, why are Prince Edward Islanders being treated differently?
A: One of the things I won’t do and one of the things that was problematic of the way the previous government chose to play politics was – I’m not going to pit regions against regions, I’m not going to play up differences or wedges between regions.
I have been listening to Islanders, we have four strong Island MPs who carry Islanders’ messages to Ottawa and fight for the things that matter, and we are continuing to focus on the investments that people are calling for and asking for. The investment in the Northumberland Ferries, for example, was one that was a long time coming.
In regards to the decisions that the bridge operator makes around setting tolls, we respect their capacity to do that, but we’re always listening to Islanders and their concerns when they bring them up.
Q: I don’t hear a commitment on the Confederation Bridge tolls being lowered.
A: This is something we’re listening to, we’re hearing. One of the nice things about an independent senate is senators can raise issues that they care about, and certainly Percy (Downe) has been very vocal about this.
And we’re always going to listen to the concerns that people raise and make decisions based on what’s in the best interest of regions and the rest of the country.