Saturday, May 13, 2006

More On Surrendering Forest Policy to Washington

The idea that provinces of Canada will no longer be sovereign determinants of their own forestry policy been simmering in my mind all day.

I can already sense that there's not much concern for the sovereignty issues this revelation raises. It's as though sovereignty is already passé with Harper in office - so 20th century.

What strikes me most recently about this has to do with Harper's insistence that the federal government's business should be restricted to it's strictly defined constitutional areas.

International trade is most certainly a federal jurisdiction and responsibility.

Management of natural resources is most definitely provincial.

What happens to the provinces ability to manage those resources when federally negotiated treaties circumscribe the provinces capacity to act as they see fit?

Does the federal government forcing through a trade deal that requires provinces to surrender certain aspects of their autonomy as regards forest practices constitute a misuse of federal powers?

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