Lo and Behold, Stephen Harper’s words on the CBC, responding to a name I know I have seen in the blogosphere somewhere.
| Jonathan Champagne: My name is Jonathan Champagne. I’m from Thornhill, Ontario, and a student at Wilfrid Laurier University. Mr. Harper, you’ve been known to advocate for smaller governments and more responsibilities to the provinces. So please tell me, how does this make for a stronger Canada?
Stephen Harper: Well, what I’ve specifically advocated for in this election are two things. First of all, that the federal government give more of its enormous and growing surpluses back to not just lower levels of government, but also to the ordinary people who paid for these surpluses in the first place through overtaxation. What we propose specifically with federal/provincial arrangements are a couple of things. First of all, that we will respect provincial jurisdiction, and, in particular, try and deal with the fact that the provincial governments do have some authority in the implementation of treaties and in international affairs where they affect provincial jurisdiction. So we’re asking — we’re going to work with the Council of the Federation to come up with a formal mechanism for provinces to have more of an input into the Canadian position during international treaty negotiations. And we’re also, of course, saying that we’re willing invite Quebec, which has requested to have a role in UNESCO. We’re going to invite them to have a role in UNESCO, similar to the role Quebec now plays in the Francophonie. That’s how we’re going to deal at this moment with trying to respect provincial jurisdiction, work better with the provinces. The other thing I want to do is, you know, I’m a long-time advocate of Senate reform which we’re going to start through an electoral process. One of the things the Senate is supposed to do and what the upper house does in most federations is provide a forum for regional representation in the national government, and I think one of the ways you strengthen the federal government in a large country like Canada is making sure that that government itself better reflects the regional nature of the country. |
(emphasis mine)
So there you have it. The whole point of his Senate reform is to give better representation across the country. Why did he appoint Fortier? To give better representation across the country. Flawlessly consistent.