Rift widens as province, feds feud

It's probably one of the worst-kept secrets in political circles that relations between Manitoba's NDP government and Ottawa's federal Conservative government have soured considerably.

Premier Greg Selinger has crossed swords with Prime Minister Stephen Harper on a number of important files, including funding for the completion of the floodway expansion and Ottawa's decision to shut down the Canadian Wheat Board. According to federal Tory sources, Selinger's public campaign to save the wheat board, and its Winnipeg-based head office, along with a myriad of other smaller conflicts, have made Selinger and his government objects of scorn in Ottawa.

The relationship worsened recently when Federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced rather suddenly that Ottawa was reasserting its control over immigrant settlement services. Prior to that decision, Manitoba single-handedly administered services to immigrants as part of an agreement going back to the late 1990s.

Selinger had previously refused to describe the immigrant settlement decision as retribution for other disputes between the two levels of government. On Tuesday, in a live interview broadcast from the Free Press News Café, he was not as guarded.

Selinger labelled Ottawa's decision as "punitive." Selinger agreed that his relationship with Prime Minister Stephen Harper is not the best, but added that Ottawa is "not supposed to be using programs like this as tools to punish other levels of government."

However, is that what is really happening here?

Although there is no doubt Selinger has made his own contributions to this strained relationship, there is some evidence to suggest the federal Tories are simply expressing their disdain for all non-Tory provincial governments. Certainly, in this province, federal Conservatives have been actively supporting their provincial counterparts and attacking Selinger on a too-regular basis.

Federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, Manitoba's regional minister, recently sent out an email blast and a series of tweets attacking Manitoba's budget. In particular, Toews believes Selinger is fibbing about the true depth of the province's fiscal woes. It is not surprising that Toews holds this opinion.

It is surprising, however, that he would take it upon himself to conduct what appears to be a personal war against a provincial government he must work with on bilateral issues. Traditionally, regional federal ministers have been silent when it comes to things like provincial elections or budgets. That tradition seems to have been scrapped in Ottawa.

This is, after all, a federal government that is becoming quite active in provincial politics. Despite Harper's warnings to MPs and cabinet ministers to stay out of provincial affairs, it's hard to find a province governed by non-Tories that isn't exchanging haymakers with federal Tories.

In Ontario, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has openly sparred with Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty. The battle peaked last October during the provincial election when Flaherty openly endorsed Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak, sparking howls of protest from Ontario Grits.

In Prince Edward Island, there were allegations of political dirty pool after Kenney announced he was referring complaints about that province's immigrant investor program to the RCMP one week into a provincial election. Liberal Premier Robert Ghiz accused provincial Tories of enlisting their federal brethren in a bid to upset the Grits' bid for re-election.

In the recent Alberta election, many saw Progressive Conservative Premier Alison Redford's robust victory over Danielle Smith and the Wildrose party as a rebuke of federal Conservatives, most of whom had thrown their support behind the upstart party.

The real question, given this pattern, is whether any NDP government in Manitoba could have a good relationship with the current federal government.

Selinger's predecessor, Gary Doer, had a great relationship with Harper. So much so that the prime minister appointed Doer as Canada's ambassador to the United States. Doer's ability to manage his relationships was certainly legend.

However, Doer's more positive relationship developed while Harper had a minority government. Perhaps the federal Tory majority, won just one year ago, emboldened many in Harper's government to go forth and, in apparent defiance of the prime minister's edict, meddle in provincial affairs in a bid to get like-minded provincial parties elected.

Selinger must take responsibility for the fights he has picked with Ottawa and the fallout that has accrued from them. But increasingly, it appears there is only one thing that can sweeten the now-sour relationship between Manitoba and Ottawa: a change in government.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 9, 2012 A5