EDMONTON – Throw shadow. Trading barbs. Shooting daggers.
There are several ways the dynamic between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Alberta Prime Minister Jason Kenney could be described while side by side at a news conference in Edmonton on Monday.
It was supposed to be a bipartisan moment, a blessing for parents and children, as the two levels of government announced an agreement that will allow billions of dollars in federal funds to flow to Alberta to help bring child care of $ 10 a year. day be a reality.
But things quickly changed when reporters began asking questions about the energy industry and Trudeau’s recent promise to limit oil and gas emissions – one about which, Kenney lamented earlier this month, the province was not consulted. . Things took a further nosedive when Kenney complained during Monday’s press conference that Alberta didn’t get the same kind of child care treatment as Quebec.
The exchange began when Trudeau said he needed Albertans to help him meet his emissions targets and that Ottawa had assembled a panel of experts to guide, “based on science,” what milestones the country must reach to reach the net. -zero emissions.
“We will lean on those experts, working with partners across the country as we put a cap on emissions from the oil and gas sector,” he said.
“We are working on it with the experts. We are going to work on it with the industry. We are also going to work on it with scientists ”.
Kenney then took the podium to reply: “I just heard the prime minister say that he will work with advisers, scientists and the industry,” he said.
“I didn’t hear ‘provinces’.”
The prime minister said that the provinces “regulate the development of these resources.”
“I will stress the importance of collaboration when it comes to finding a balance between jobs and growth and reducing emissions,” added Kenney.
It was something of a live look at the public coups that have come and gone between the two leaders more often from a distance over the years. Kenney has previously said that Trudeau’s emissions plan would be “unrealistic” and “devastating for the entire economy” and criticized him for not consulting with Alberta before revealing it.
The bitterness continued when asked about Alberta’s specific child care deal, which will see the province receive $ 3.8 billion over the next five years to reduce child care costs.
The Liberals made the $ 10-a-day childcare funding deals a key electoral promise and began making deals with the provinces.
Quebec was quickly able to secure a $ 6 billion child care deal with the federal government, with no strings attached. That province already allocates around $ 2.7 billion for child care and complies with the requirements that are normally established for this type of agreement with the federal government.
For months, Alberta has tried to sign a similar agreement with Ottawa, but claimed it was not on the table. In August, Kenney criticized the Trudeau government for not giving it to Alberta and treating it as a “second-class” province.
Again on Monday, Kenney complained that while the new deal with Alberta has some flexibility, “this is the best deal we can get.”
“At the end of the day, it is not the only time that we see what appears to be a two-tier federation,” he said.
Trudeau then stepped up to the microphone: “Let me respond directly to that,” he said.
“It is not a question of flexibility that we gave Quebec on child care versus the flexibility that we would not give Ontario,” he said.
Quebec already has childcare for less than $ 10 a day, Trudeau said, so there was no point in placing conditions on the funding provided by Ottawa.
“If Alberta already had childcare at $ 8 a day throughout the province, we would have had a similar approach to Quebec,” he said.
“So, we don’t create constitutional conventions from this. It’s about seeing what families have, what families need, and how we get $ 10 a day for childcare across the country. “
Reference-www.thestar.com