Don't read too much into Yorkton confab

It was a phone call that led to a coin toss that ended up with Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger and Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall holding a historic joint cabinet meeting.

The story started last fall when Selinger was chosen by the NDP to replace outgoing Premier Gary Doer, who left to serve as Canada's ambassador to the United States.

According to Selinger, Wall called to congratulate the new Manitoba first minister. The two leaders agreed it was time they got together to discuss issues of common interest. Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia had already been holding joint cabinet meetings.

Officials for the two provinces tried to find a time and a place for a similar meeting. Selinger said he tried to get Wall to go to Flin Flon, which sits snug up against Creighton, Sask. Wall countered with Yorkton. Selinger suggested Brandon. It was a standoff.

Flash forward to the Grey Cup game in Calgary last November. The Grey Cup has become a legitimate political event, with most, if not all, premiers attending and talking all kinds of turkey in hospitality suites. While making the Grey Cup rounds, Wall and Selinger agreed that a coin toss would decide the location for their meeting. Selinger won the toss, but in an effort to cultivate goodwill, he chose Yorkton as the site of the first joint cabinet meeting.

"I thought it would build a little trust," Selinger said in an interview.

Now we know how it happened. The more important question is, should anyone care?

Joint cabinet meetings have become the vogue among the three westernmost provinces. After a number of bilateral gatherings, last year the three provinces got together for a historic trilateral cabinet meeting that launched what is now being called the Western Economic Partnership.

Alas, despite being a charter member of Western Canada, Manitoba was conspicuous by its absence. Why? It appears Manitoba wasn't the right type.

In an interview with veteran columnist Murray Mandryk of the Regina Leader-Post, Wall said that when the meeting was proposed, it "just seemed that these three provinces had more in common in terms of their equalization status. These are three 'have provinces', so we don't tend to talk about equalization, which can certainly be a distracting discussion."

It seemed pretty clear that Saskatchewan, only very recently a have province thanks to commodity revenues, was only interested in a clique that involved the cool provinces. You know, the ones that don't receive equalization payments from Ottawa.

Forget the fact that B.C. shared in equalization as recently as 2007, and that Saskatchewan was still receiving equalization in 2008. Or that equalization has nothing to do with the meaty issues at joint cabinet meetings: interprovincial trade barriers; a united front to press for federal support for an east-west power grid; allowing skilled trades to work in all western provinces without having to recertify; doing away with countervailing provincial agricultural levies.

The stated purpose of these meetings -- to promote regional economic and political co-operation -- is admirable enough. But there is evidence to suggest these sessions are little more than political performance art.

Selinger noted that the great Western Economic Partnership has not, for example, mended fences between British Columbia (which is aggressive on climate change) and Alberta (which in general denies that climate change is a pressing issue). It has not helped Saskatchewan (which supports a national securities regulator) reach common ground with Alberta (which has threatened to leave the federation if a federal securities commission is created).

"The Saskatchewan-Manitoba meeting shows that there are a lot of issues where we have a shared interest," Selinger said. "However, we work with all of the provinces on all the issues. We're working together all the time."

There are many layers to federal-provincial politics, and participation in joint cabinet meetings does not guarantee any greater level of co-operation. However, appearances can be everything and right now, Manitoba has the appearance of a province on the outside of a growing western power group looking in. As it stands, Manitoba has not been invited to participate in the Western Economic Partnership. Maybe it never will be invited.

And while that doesn't mean Manitoba is without influence in the West, it certainly suggests what influence the province has is waning.

It also speaks to the increasing stigma that comes with equalization. A stigma that could keep Manitoba on the outside, at least until Saskatchewan and B.C. dig back into that pot once again.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 6, 2010 A10