WHO could have guessed that prime minister Paul Martin, in his first major negotiation with the provinces since assuming office, would give them through the back door what a predecessor prime minister could not do through the front door – a version of the controversial Meech Lake Accord?
Last week, at the end of three days of health-care negotiations with the provincial premiers, Martin announced that he was willing to try to buy federal-provincial peace with a promise of $18 billion additional health-care dollars over six years, billions more in equalization and a provincial promise to meet national standards that likely will bear little fruit.
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Oh, and by the way, Quebec received a separate side deal that makes its need for adherence to national standards even less stringent, essentially giving the province billions of federal dollars with few strings.
The other provinces received assurances that in future, they can cut special deals as well.
Policy makers call it “asymmetrical federalism,” meaning national standards are weakened, some provinces are more equal than others on some files and the ability of the national government to create national programs is undermined.
If you are a Quebec nationalist or an Alberta firewaller, this is a good thing.
If you are Paul Martin, this simply reflects that Canada is, in Joe Clark’s famous phrase, a “community of communities,” a collection of provinces with strong constitutional powers.
“What this is, is a deal that embraces the reality of Canada and I am very, very proud of it,” he told reporters.
It is also a substantial change in the Canadian political ethos, decided by 11 exhausted men in private meetings who had spent three days debating how to cut up the health-care cash and bootlegged “asymmetrical federalism” into the deal at the last minute.
It was one of the prices Martin had to pay to hear premiers proclaim him a “tough negotiator” while smiling behind their hands filled with loot and more powers.
To be fair to Martin, he isn’t a recent convert to the idea of a more decentralized Canada with a weaker centre.
In 1987, when Brian Mulroney tried to buy federal-provincial peace and Quebec’s signature on the constitution by offering asymmetrical federalism through the Meech Lake Accord, average Canadians seemed to dislike the idea of creeping regionalism as much as the premiers embraced it.
Martin also embraced it, creating a divide between himself and Jean Chrétien.
When three provinces stalled the deal, it failed in 1990. Mulroney’s warnings that the demise of Meech could be the demise of Canada helped begin his descent.
An attempt at a broader Meech in the Charlottetown Accord of 1992 ended in even greater failure when voters were given a chance to decide its fate.
Now, Martin is in charge and he did in 2004 what Mulroney could not do in 1990, but this time with no public warning or voter debate.
In effect, it was a constitutional change without public input, made more palatable because it was wrapped in billions of health-care dollars.
If Pierre Trudeau was still alive, he likely would be asking Martin, as he asked Clark and Mulroney: Who speaks for Canada?
