Latest news with #premiers
CBC
7 minutes ago
- Politics
- CBC
Carney says 'we're working to get the best deal' with U.S.
4 minutes ago News Duration 2:34 Prime Minister Mark Carney, speaking to reporters in Huntsville, Ont., on Tuesday, says he is working with the premiers to 'build up' Canada while negotiations continue with the U.S.
CTV News
4 hours ago
- Business
- CTV News
Saskatchewan joins Alberta-Ontario pipelines MOU
Saskatchewan joins Alberta-Ontario pipelines MOU The premiers of Saskatchewan, Ontario and Alberta signed a memorandum of understanding on pipleins on Tuesday.
CBC
10 hours ago
- Business
- CBC
Are first ministers' meetings cool again?
Social Sharing When Mark Carney sits down with the premiers in Huntsville, Ont., on Tuesday, it will be the third time in four months that he and the premiers have met face-to-face. Going back to the waning days of Justin Trudeau's premiership, Canada's first ministers will have now sat down together a total of four times already this year. That is, by recent standards, an unusual amount of time for the prime minister and the premiers to spend in each other's midst. In the last 35 years, such gatherings have been generally rare and, in fact, consciously avoided. But it's possible that the day of the first ministers' conference has come (again). After years of relative estrangement, Canada's leaders may need to get reacquainted, not simply for their own sake, but to reinforce a country that is faced with new threats and a new era of instability. Coming out of the shock of the pandemic and now amid both the profound disruption brought about by Trump's presidency and the emergence of new internal threats to Canada's federation, there have been calls to strengthen relations between the federal and provincial governments. Most concretely, that could include reviving the sort of summits that used to be commonplace. WATCH | What's on the agenda for Carney's Tuesday meeting?: U.S. tariffs, trade to top agenda when Carney meets with premiers 2 days ago Canada's premiers are gathering in Ontario for a three-day meeting to discuss U.S. tariffs, interprovincial trade barriers and infrastructure. Prime Minister Mark Carney, who has said a trade deal with the U.S. may involve accepting some export levies, will join the talks on Tuesday. Lori Turnbull, political science professor at Dalhousie University, weighs in. "We need systemic reform designed to foster trust, not just transaction," Jared Wesley, a political scientist at the University of Alberta, wrote in May. "This means re-introducing routine, rules-based intergovernmental relations, where leaders know they'll meet regularly, under shared agendas, with accountability built into the process. "That starts with institutionalizing first ministers' meetings, moving them from sporadic events to annual fixtures with jointly determined priorities." In previous eras that would have been an unremarkable recommendation. The rise and fall of the first ministers' meeting According to a tally compiled by Alasdair Roberts, a Canadian professor of public policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, prime ministers and premiers met 25 times during the busy post-war period between 1945 and 1970. They then met 31 times between 1971 and 1992, a period highlighted by tumultuous negotiations over the Constitution. But as Roberts documents in The Adaptable Country, his 2024 treatise on the need for institutional reform in Canada, the fraught and exhausting negotiations of the '70s and '80s gave such meetings a bad name. And there followed a succession of prime ministers who were, either personally or politically, disinclined to meet the premiers as a group. Jean Chrétien met the premiers just four times in 10 years. Stephen Harper also convened the first ministers on just four occasions, two of which were dinner meetings. Trudeau came to office promising annual meetings, but ultimately convened only a handful (though he did hold regular video calls with the premiers during the pandemic). WATCH | Ford hails Saskatoon meeting: That different levels of government should communicate and collaborate as much as possible, particularly in a decentralized federation such as Canada, might seem fairly obvious. But the conventional political wisdom in Ottawa has come to be that, at least for prime ministers, meetings with the premiers as a group are to be avoided. A prime minister who wants to pursue an initiative that requires provincial agreement is better off, the thinking goes, dictating terms and negotiating with provincial governments individually — as the Trudeau government, for instance, did on child care, health care and school nutrition programs. Meanwhile, in the absence of regular meetings, the premiers have contented themselves with semi-regular demands that the prime minister meet with them to address some complaint about federal policy or demand for federal funding — thus reinforcing the accepted wisdom that the prime minister was better off avoiding them. Do we need an annual Canada summit? In The Adaptable Country, Roberts identifies three purposes to summits like first ministers' conferences. First, and most obviously, such meetings can lead to agreements on policy. But, Roberts writes, "equally important is the goal of demonstrating solidarity." "Leaders gather to show the world that they are committed to an alliance, even when they have sharp differences, and also to show they can talk civilly about those differences," he writes. Relatedly, such meetings can also allow for sharing information and perspectives, improving understanding and promoting co-ordinated action. Set against the long and torturous history of federal-provincial conflict in Canada — a tradition as old as the country itself — such expectations for first ministers' meetings might seem optimistic. But in making the case for an annual meeting of first ministers, Roberts points to the example of the G7. And while the future of that body has been called into question lately, Carney himself defended the value of those gatherings when he closed this year's summit in Kananaskis, Alta., last month. "At a time when multilateralism is under great strain … that we got together, that we agreed on a number of areas … that's important, that's valuable," the prime minister said. If the world benefits from such meetings — which have occurred every year since 1975, with the exception of 2020 — could Canada not benefit from its own regular summits? If first ministers' conferences had come to be associated with acrimony, that might have had much to do with the subject matter — namely, the Constitution. And while avoiding such meetings might have been the politically expedient thing for a prime minister to do, there might be less freedom to aim for mere expediency these days. That Carney will have met the premiers face-to-face three times already might suggest he is more inclined toward working through these kinds of gatherings. But all these meetings have been prompted by the need to respond to an immediate crisis — the American president's tariffs. What Roberts envisions is an annual summit — including Indigenous leadership — that would focus not on hammering out agreements on specific initiatives, but would, like a G7, aim more broadly. It would help drive and focus a longer-term discussion about the direction of the country at a time of incredible change (a royal commission would be another option). Because what Canada is faced with now is not a short-term crisis — and Roberts fears the Carney government is still framing Canada's current situation as a temporary challenge. "What we need is a conversation to get everybody on the same page, so far as we can, about what the country is going to look like a generation from now," he says. "I'm not thinking of that Canada summit as a mechanism for handling some agreement about, you know, interprovincial trade barriers. I'm talking about it as a planning event, something with the kind of scale and gravitas of the G7 because that will focus national attention on long-term priorities." There is no shortage of big and serious things to talk about and figure out right now. And in the interests of figuring them out, the nation's leaders might do themselves — and the country — some good by simply sitting around the table on a regular basis to talk about them.
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
'Like they're set in their ways': Some Indigenous leaders not happy with projects as premiers meet
Canada's premiers are gathering in Huntsville, Ont., on Monday ahead of a meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney. Once again the economy and U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs are at the top of the agenda, with more levies against Canadian goods expected in the coming weeks. As Mackenzie Gray reports, there are still differing opinions on how best to tackle the problem.
The Australian
17 hours ago
- Sport
- The Australian
AFL: Emerging Lions star Jaspa Fletcher recommits to Brisbane
Emerging star Jaspa Fletcher has declared his intention to be a Lion for life after signing a contract extension that will keep him in Brisbane at least until the end of 2030. Fletcher, 21, was already under contract for next season and jumped at the chance to lengthen his stay with the reigning premiers when offered a further four-year deal. 'I just wanted to commit to the club,' the son of former Bears, Lions, Geelong, St Kilda and Fremantle player Adrian Fletcher said. 'They've given so much to me. I've been through the academy up here, my dad's played up here as well, and for the chance to commit long term, I thought that was a no-brainer for me. 'I'd love to be a one-club player. I know my dad's been at a few, but I'd like to have the edge over him in that, and to be at this club and be a one-club player here would be an absolute honour. 'It's been my dream to run out at the Gabba since I was a little boy, so to be able to continue to do that, I'm over the moon.' Jaspa Fletcher is delighted to continue his career long term at the Brisbane Lions. Picture: Albert Perez/AFL Photos via Getty Images The No.12 pick in the 2022 draft, Fletcher hasn't missed a game for Brisbane since making his AFL debut in the Lions' 16-point win over Sydney on June 16, 2023. However, despite the consistency in selection, playing in two successive grand finals, and winning a premiership last season, Fletcher admitted he wasn't entirely pleased with his form in 2024. 'I've been pretty open about it. I didn't have a year that I was quite happy with,' he said. 'I know as a team, I was super stoked to go there and hold the (premiership) cup up, but for me personally, I thought I could add a little bit more, and in the off-season, I got to work on things that I think are my strengths but also where I need to grow.' The work has paid off, with the versatile Fletcher having consistently been one of Brisbane's best performers in the club's bid to secure back-to-back premierships. 'I obviously want to continually get better at it, but I've been able to have a bit more impact this year,' he said. Having played his junior football as an inside midfielder, Fletcher has this season shown his class in a variety of positions. 'I just want to play wherever the team needs me. If that's on the wing, if that's down half-back, or if that's up forward or in the middle, I'll do whatever it takes to put my best foot forward and play my role in the team,' he said. Lions football manager Danny Daly said Fletcher also had the qualities to be a 'future leader' of the club. Jaspa Fletcher is congratulated by fans after Brisbane's win over Richmond at the MCG in April. Picture: Josh Chadwick/AFL Photos/via Getty Images A similar leadership endorsement for Fletcher has come previously from Lions co-captain and two-time Brownlow Medal winner Lachie Neale, who tipped his teammate to eventually become Brisbane's skipper. 'I was honoured when I heard Lachie say that. If that's the case, I'll be super stoked and happy to take that role on-board, but at the same time, I know we've got a lot of great young leaders here, and Hugh McCluggage and Josh Dunkley do a great job as vice-captains as well,' said Fletcher, who has previously captained the under-18 Allies team. 'We've got some great people at the club that can help me with (leadership), and I'll be looking to pick up what the other boys have experienced as leaders.' The second-placed Lions can maintain the pressure on leaders Collingwood with a win over Gold Coast in Saturday's QClash at People First Stadium. 'They (the Suns) have been playing some really good footy too, and they're in the hunt for the finals, as a lot of teams are at the moment, and every QClash is a real contest,' Fletcher said. 'We know they'll play their great footy and their brand at the moment, and we're looking forward to the opportunity.' Marco Monteverde Sports reporter Marco Monteverde is a Brisbane-based sports reporter for NCA Newswire. He worked in a similar role for The Courier-Mail from 2007 to 2020. During a journalism career of more than 25 years, he has also worked for The Queensland Times, The Sunshine Coast Daily, The Fraser Coast Chronicle and The North West Star. He has covered three FIFA World Cups and the 2000 Sydney Olympics, as well as a host of other major sporting events in Australia and around the world. @marcothejourno Marco Monteverde
