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Dinner with PM a waste of time: Williams
Canadian Press
The Canadian Press—Ottawa
Premier Danny Williams barely arrived in the nation’s capital before dismissing Friday’s first ministers’ dinner with Prime Minister Stephen Harper as a political charade.
Premiers are planning to use the meeting to pressure Harper to pour massive financial aid into helping export-driven industries battered by the strong dollar, soaring fuel prices and the slumping U.S. economy.
But the colourful premier of Newfoundland and Labrador said an informal four-hour chat over a meal at 24 Sussex Drive is no way to make serious progress on a serious matter.
“I have to go with an open mind, but I don’t like the way that the premiers are being corralled into this situation,” Williams said on arriving at a pre-dinner meeting with his fellow provincial and territorial leaders.
“To have to come here to be told it’s a certain time, it’s going to be over supper, officials aren’t allowed in, there’s no preparation going on between the governments and the bureaucracies and we’re gonna be out by the Friday night movie.
“How can you get anything done? I think maybe a weekend at Bernie’s might be more productive,” an apparent reference to a 1989 movie in which the title character is a corpse.
In an earlier interview with The Canadian Press, Williams said the dinner format benefits Harper because it limits the time for any meaningful discussion. And he chided Harper for failing to hold a formal first ministers’ summit since becoming prime minister two years ago.
Shortly after he took office, Harper did meet informally over dinner with premiers.
“There hasn’t been a first ministers’ meeting with this prime minister in two years and to reduce that to a very short meeting on a Friday night is not appropriate,” he said.
Privately, some officials from other provinces have echoed Williams’ sentiments. But his fellow premiers refrained from publicly criticizing the format.
The meeting is being held at the behest of the premiers of Ontario and Quebec, Canada’s manufacturing heartland. Dalton McGuinty and Jean Charest, backed by most other premiers, plan to pressure Harper to provide massive federal financial aid for struggling industries.
In a pre-emptive strike, Harper unveiled a $1-billion aid package Thursday aimed at bolstering one-industry communities that have been devastated by layoffs and factory and mill closures.
While some premiers welcomed the package as a good start, McGuinty and Charest said it’s too little, too late.
They said the $1 billion is a fraction of what’s needed. And they continued Friday to criticize Harper for saying the money won’t start flowing unless opposition parties agree to pass the next federal budget weeks from now.
“The problem is today,” said Charest.
“We don’t want it to become an election stake and we don’t want the forestry workers to become victims of the election campaign.”
McGuinty said premiers “have to make sure that the federal government understands that it is urgent to act as early as possible.”
Dinner with PM a waste of time: Williams
Canadian Press
The Canadian Press—Ottawa
Premier Danny Williams barely arrived in the nation’s capital before dismissing Friday’s first ministers’ dinner with Prime Minister Stephen Harper as a political charade.
Premiers are planning to use the meeting to pressure Harper to pour massive financial aid into helping export-driven industries battered by the strong dollar, soaring fuel prices and the slumping U.S. economy.
But the colourful premier of Newfoundland and Labrador said an informal four-hour chat over a meal at 24 Sussex Drive is no way to make serious progress on a serious matter.
“I have to go with an open mind, but I don’t like the way that the premiers are being corralled into this situation,” Williams said on arriving at a pre-dinner meeting with his fellow provincial and territorial leaders.
“To have to come here to be told it’s a certain time, it’s going to be over supper, officials aren’t allowed in, there’s no preparation going on between the governments and the bureaucracies and we’re gonna be out by the Friday night movie.
“How can you get anything done? I think maybe a weekend at Bernie’s might be more productive,” an apparent reference to a 1989 movie in which the title character is a corpse.
In an earlier interview with The Canadian Press, Williams said the dinner format benefits Harper because it limits the time for any meaningful discussion. And he chided Harper for failing to hold a formal first ministers’ summit since becoming prime minister two years ago.
Shortly after he took office, Harper did meet informally over dinner with premiers.
“There hasn’t been a first ministers’ meeting with this prime minister in two years and to reduce that to a very short meeting on a Friday night is not appropriate,” he said.
Privately, some officials from other provinces have echoed Williams’ sentiments. But his fellow premiers refrained from publicly criticizing the format.
The meeting is being held at the behest of the premiers of Ontario and Quebec, Canada’s manufacturing heartland. Dalton McGuinty and Jean Charest, backed by most other premiers, plan to pressure Harper to provide massive federal financial aid for struggling industries.
In a pre-emptive strike, Harper unveiled a $1-billion aid package Thursday aimed at bolstering one-industry communities that have been devastated by layoffs and factory and mill closures.
While some premiers welcomed the package as a good start, McGuinty and Charest said it’s too little, too late.
They said the $1 billion is a fraction of what’s needed. And they continued Friday to criticize Harper for saying the money won’t start flowing unless opposition parties agree to pass the next federal budget weeks from now.
“The problem is today,” said Charest.
“We don’t want it to become an election stake and we don’t want the forestry workers to become victims of the election campaign.”
McGuinty said premiers “have to make sure that the federal government understands that it is urgent to act as early as possible.”