OTTAWA - Stephen Harper's planned June 2 get-together with Canada's premiers has been put off indefinitely, leaving at least one provincial leader wondering if the prime minister ever intends to host a full-fledged first-minister's conference.
"That one is off and there were some other proposed dates. Now I understand they're off as well," Saskatchewan's Lorne Calvert said Monday.
"So, to my knowledge, there is not going to be a gathering any time soon."
Harper vowed to usher in a new era of federal-provincial harmony when he took power 16 months ago. He got off to quick start, hosting a dinner with premiers and territorial leaders at 24 Sussex Drive within a month of taking office. It was, by all accounts, an informal, amicable gathering.
But Harper has not met with the premiers as a group since and his relations with some, notably Calvert and Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams, have soured. In the absence of a meeting, Calvert said federal-provincial relations have been reduced to "megaphone diplomacy."
"Here we are a year and some into a mandate and we've really had only one first-ministers' gathering and that wasn't a (formal) meeting, it was really just a gathering at 24 Sussex," said Calvert, in Ottawa on Monday to discuss his province's position on federal transfers.
"We really do need to sit down to meet. Negotiating through the media or discussing through email is not the way to really build a strong Canada."
Harper wasn't planning a formal first ministers' meeting for June 2 either. According to provincial sources, it was to be strictly an informal luncheon meeting to consult with premiers one day before the prime minister takes off for a G8 summit in Germany. Harper had hoped to discuss globalization, competitiveness and Canada's economic union.
Harper had apparently hoped to confine the agenda to discussion of economic issues and win provincial plaudits for appearing to consult the premiers about issues that would subsequently top the agenda at the G8.
Some provincial officials speculate that the prime minister has no interest in hosting a meeting that would simply give premiers a podium from which to bash the federal government.
His relations with Calvert and Williams have been particularly tense since the March 19 federal budget imposed changes to the equalization program for have-not provinces. Both Calvert and Williams charge that Harper reneged on a promise to fully shield their provinces' resource revenue from being clawed back through reduced equalization payments.
Williams, a fellow Conservative, has resorted to newspaper ads condemning Harper and urging Canadians to vote anything but Tory in the next federal election.
Relations are uneasy on other fronts as well. Several provinces, including Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick, are opposed to Harper's plans to incrementally reform the Senate without provincial consent.
Ontario is upset by a recent bill to expand the number of seats in the House of Commons, which continues to leave Ontario under-represented. Quebec also opposes the bill, which would reduce that province's overall share of Commons seats even though it would continue to have slightly more seats than its population warrants.
But Calvert said fear of conflicting views on various issues shouldn't dictate whether Harper hosts a first ministers' meeting.
"We're going to have differences of opinion but that's always been the case . . . But you never find any common resolution going forward if you're not really sitting down and hammering some of this stuff out. That's just not happening."
