Moe should focus on provincial issues
Premier Scott Moe’s comments on the results of the federal election and his demand that the federal government negotiate with the government of Saskatchewan on future policy are disturbing in two respects.
First, the premier is not the head of a sovereign state. This is not the European Union. He is the premier of a province in a federation. He does not speak for Saskatchewan on all aspects of policy and jurisdiction in the province. Indeed, the legislature of Saskatchewan and his government are chiefly concerned about matters that fall under provincial jurisdiction, matters like education and health care. Rhetorical statements which begin with “Saskatchewan wants a better deal from Canada” is the language used by separatists in Québec.
This does not mean that he should not have views on matters that come under federal jurisdiction where they intersect with provincial jurisdiction. But his rhetoric seems to indicate that he views himself as the only legitimate representative of Saskatchewan.
Second, his remarks are profoundly anti-democratic. We just had a federal election. A new Parliament was elected, a Parliament that has representatives from five national parties, and one independent member. These people will decide policy under federal jurisdiction. The people of Canada as a whole have spoken.
Some of us didn’t vote for the present government. We may not even like all of the policies that will come out of this Parliament. I personally do not support a carbon tax, but for reasons that differ from Premier Moe. But none of us believe that a provincial premier can say to the Parliament of Canada, “I’m sorry, I don’t like the result and you have to change it.” This is not being respectful to the will of the voters in our country.
Having said all of this, the premier should not think that we are naive about his motivation. He is approaching a provincial election, and it is highly likely that he would like to run that election on matters at the federal level that people don’t like. Many governments that preceded him have done so. But none of them, to my knowledge, have been so stridently anti-democratic and used such obviously separatist language.
Mr. Premier, run on your record and on matters under your jurisdiction. Let’s find out if people are satisfied with the educational system, with the health system, and with our water systems. These are the kinds of things that the voters of Saskatchewan would like to hear about from you. Leave federal matters to the federal leaders and politicians.
Dr. Howard Leeson Former deputy minister for intergovernmental affairs with both the Blakeney and Romanow administrations and professor emeritus of political science at the University of Regina