Federal Encroachment
[Ontario Premier Dalton] McGuinty said there are fundamental problems with the Ontario economy and the government is part of the problem.
« Why do we put so many roadblocks in the way of businesses when it comes to growth? » he asked.
One roadblock is the need for both federal and provincial environmental assessments on infrastructure projects. McGuinty said he expects the federal government will agree to have just one.
Source: CBC News
This is a very good example of what is wrong with Canada and why this blog has been created. When the federal government invests on provincial and municipal infrastructures, it imposes its conditions to the provinces. The federal government usually does its own environmental assessments on top of those done by the provinces (sometimes municipalities do one as well, which can lead to 3 environmental assessments for the same project!). The federal government also usually requires provinces and municipalities to pay their “share”. This can double or triple the bureaucracy and once they finally agree to start a project, sometimes the money simply isn’t there, especially in this era of minority governments.
The latest example of this is the Quartier des spectacles in Montreal, where the federal and provincial government agreed to invest with the city. Work has started, but Montreal hasn’t received a single dollar from Quebec City and Ottawa. The city didn’t want to delay the project forever, so it pays for the work being done now.
Tuesday’s federal budget demonstrates the problem of federal intrusion as well. In the stimulus package, they plan to spend in the next two years $6.4 billion in provincial, territorial and municipal infrastructure, versus $716 million in federal infrastructure projects and $515 million in First Nations infrastructure. They also plan to spend $2 billion in improving infrastructure at universities and colleges, which is a provincial responsibility (source). Why do I have the impression that they are neglecting federal responsibilities in order to intrude as much as possible in provincial matters? Take for example the Champlain Bridge in Montreal, a federal bridge. They plan to invest $212 million within 10 years to renew it. This sounds as a joke, since we all know it will have to be replaced soon. But the feds have no vision; they just want to intrude in provincial jurisdictions to buy votes.
The distribution of legislative powers in the Constitution should be renegotiated to prohibit co-financing of projects between different levels of government (one project should mean one level of government responsible). In the meantime, the federal government should transfer the money to the provinces without condition.
