The premier alliance is with the people

When Christy Clark met with her Alberta counterpart Alison Redford for the first time, observers noted many points of comparison between the two neophyte premiers.

Both were relative outsiders who’d captured the leadership of their parties with next to no support from the established caucus and cabinet.

Both were positioning themselves as centrists, between challengers left and right, in anticipation of a coming election.

Both oversaw resource- rich economies, where trade, development and infrastructure were the keys to growth.

Plus, obviously, the matter of gender.

“We have a female premier in the North, we have one in Newfoundland and now we have two in the west,” said Clark after meeting with Redford in Calgary last October. “And I always say to my male friends [ among the premiers], we’re not taking over, but we have you surrounded.”

Still the two weren’t long in diverging on the issues, starting with the Northern Gateway pipeline, which dominated news coverage of their second face- toface session in Edmonton last December.

Clark did find something good to say about the $ 5.5- billion proposal to pipe Alberta crude to tidewater at Kitimat. “Certainly in British Columbia we recognize the big contribution that the oilsands make to Canada and to our national economy.”

She also conceded the constitutional reality that “B. C.’ s coast does not just belong to British Columbia, it belongs to Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.”

But having said that, she was on the fence and intended to remain there. “We’re watching the national environmental review process as it works its way through.” Only when all the facts were on the table about impacts and benefits, “will we be in a position to have a meaningful debate about it.” Redford, for her part, floated a friendly reminder about the importance of sending the right message to investors. This province would benefit along with the whole country, “if there is a signal sent that British Columbia is prepared to develop their resources.”

But she conceded to the political reality that Clark has nothing to gain from taking a stand on the controversy at this time. If the pipeline is approved, it won’t be until after the next provincial election and even then it may face years of court challenges from first nations.

The Alberta premier dismissed as “simplistic and naive” the suggestion from rival Danielle Smith of the upstart Wildrose Party that Clark could have been persuaded to support the pipeline prematurely. On the contrary, said Redford, she respects the wisdom of her B. C. counterpart’s decision to wait out the environmental process.

Then Redford joined Clark ( and their fellow western premier Brad Wall of Saskatchewan) in calling for provinces to support each other’s energy projects within recognized environmental standards. Not likely will other provinces agree. But the point was to minimize differences for public consumption.

The two premiers found themselves on opposite sides again this week when they and other provincial and territorial leaders met in the B. C. capital to discuss the federal government’s revision to the funding formula for health care. For Clark the big concern was a move to funding on a percapita basis in 2014. B. C. has more seniors than the national average. She wanted the formula to recognize the added cost of looking after an older population. Alberta has significantly fewer seniors than B. C., both in terms of exact numbers ( 400,000 versus 700,000) and expressed as a percentage of the population ( 11 per cent versus 14). With a younger population, the province stood to benefit most from the shift to per capita funding.

So Redford had to demur in joining Clark’s crusade. She conceded that B. C. had a point about the cost of caring for an aging population. But other provinces face other pressures, from looking after rural and remote communities to meeting the needs of first nations. Each province is unique, hence the fairness of a per capita approach.

“Every Canadian is entitled to the same amount of money through the Canadian health transfer as every other Canadian,” said Redford, adding, with no hint of apology, that “this is an advantage to our province and there is no doubt that we are pleased to have that advantage.”

Having underscored that particular political reality, Redford then joined Clark and the other premiers in establishing a working group to “assess the fiscal impact of the current federal fiscal proposals.”

The accompanying communique pledged “to the basic principle that no jurisdiction should be worse off.” But the premiers are no more likely to reach consensus on a funding formula than on a common energy strategy.

Saskatchewan’s Brad Wall put it well in an interview on the eve of the conference. “When I go to Victoria,” he told the Regina Leader- Post, “I won’t have an alliance with any other province — my alliance will be with the people of Saskatchewan.”

A reminder there, from the premier ranked as the most popular in the country in a recent poll, that provinces, like nations, don’t have friends or enemies, only interests.