P.M. will stick handle equalization issue at pond hockey meeting in N.B.

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This article was published 08/02/2007 (7045 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PLASTER ROCK, N.B. (CP) – Prime Minister Stephen Harper will have to do some political stick handling when he meets Premier Shawn Graham this weekend at the World Pond Hockey Championship in northwestern New Brunswick.

Graham said Thursday he’s going to remind the prime minister one more time about the importance of sharing equalization money equitably to help poorer provinces like New Brunswick.

“I’m hoping the prime minister will honour his commitment that no province will be adversely affected by a new equalization formula,” Graham said. “I’ll be holding him to that commitment.”

The federal government is expected to address the fiscal imbalance between what provinces require for health, education and social programs, and the amounts Ottawa provides in transfer payments and equalization, in its budget next month.

Harper and Graham will be in Plaster Rock on Saturday to celebrate the sixth annual pond hockey championship, which attracts teams from around the world.

Graham says he had hoped for some playing time with Harper on the outdoor ice, but Harper is expected to be at the tournament for only one hour.

“I challenged him to game,” Graham said.

“I said, ‘You put on the blue jersey and I’ll put on my red jersey and, in the sprit of promoting wellness, we’d go out and pass the puck around. I’m disappointed he won’t have time.”

The premiers have been squabbling about the $11.7-billion national wealth redistribution program for over a year.

Some energy-rich provinces want resources such as oil to be excluded from the system used to calculate how much equalization money each of the poorer provinces receives.

But Manitoba, New Brunswick and other provinces not rich in oil and gas oppose the idea, arguing they could see their payments cut.

Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has vowed to impose reforms to equalization in the budget. The federal government does not need agreement from the provinces on equalization, as the program is run and funded entirely by Ottawa.

Officials at the World Pond Hockey Championship said Thursday the prime minister’s visit will focus more national attention on the annual competition.

Organizer Danny Braun said it will be the first time in history that a Canadian prime minister has visited Plaster Rock, a village of 1,200 nestled on the banks of the Tobique River.

“It’s a first-time thing and something people are really looking forward to,” Braun said in an interview.

One hundred and twenty teams are playing at the outdoor championship, which opened on Thursday and runs until Sunday. There are teams from every Canadian province, 23 states as well as from England, Ireland, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Egypt, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.

Most of the players are ex-patriate Canadians anxious to return to their native country to play the great game the way many remember it from childhood.

Most of the players are over 30; some are close to 60.

Braun said coming to the pond hockey championships is like drinking from the fountain of youth for the aging players.

“In past years, we’ve had some of these older guys basically in tears when they get out on the ice,” he said.

“These are the types of activities we did as kids. It’s the romance of the game, the lure of those wonderful memories.”

The tournament is played on a lake in a woodland setting.

Harper is a keen hockey fan and a hockey dad. He is working on a book about the history of hockey.