In Monday’s agenda meeting for the upcoming First Ministers’ Conference, the delegation from British Columbia designated the environmental crisis brought about by pine beetles and a national program to set standards for the immigrant accreditation process as their top choices for the agenda short list. It’s interesting to note which topic they left out from their press release: increased federal investment in the Asia-Pacific Gateway. Perhaps they assumed that the other provinces would choose the economy as a topic of discussion and hence hope to squeeze in the Gateway under that umbrella.
The topics of environment and climate change garnered support from most of the provinces and territories, however the spokesman for the B.C. delegation chose to focus on the pine beetle epidemic. He warned the other delegations that this is not a problem for just British Columbia, stating that forest devastation via pine beetles will reach Newfoundland and Labrador by 2010 and that the pine beetles’ activities will have released 270 Megatons of carbon dioxide into the earth’s atmosphere in twelve years’ time.
Speaking on the economy, the B.C. delegation pushed its bid for the creation of a national standard for the accreditation of new immigrants. This “fast-track” program hopes to relieve labour shortages, such as nurses, that are stresses on Canada’s economy. This proposition gained support from the Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, Québec, and New Brunswick delegations. The New Brunswick delegation, however, may be more hesitant than others, as they expressed concern that this type of program may deplete their working population. On the topic of trade, the B.C. delegation said that it supports the possibility of an open trade agreement between the Canadian provinces and territories. By stating support for inter-provincial trade, they may have closed the door on their own hopes to fuel federal funds into the Asia-Pacific Gateway.
Although the British Columbia delegation gained backers for its immigrant accreditation plan during the early stages of the discussion period, this proposal seemed to become forgotten as the debate progressed. Their plea regarding the pine beetle crisis didn’t even make a dent in the debate on the environment. At least the British Columbia delegation was brave enough make a request to the federal government in the form of a dollar amount, albeit a $300 million request. Will the British Columbia delegation be convincing enough at the next round of debates to get their immigration plan and pine beetle crisis management on the docket? Only time will tell.
Dana Windover, The Seditious Times
