Trudeau pushes back after premiers accuse him of encroaching on their territory

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is pushing back against the claim that his government is infringing on provincial and territorial jurisdiction after the premiers repeatedly attacked his program spending during their annual summer meeting this week.

Canada’s 13 premiers spent nearly three days in Halifax discussing shared priorities and challenges.

While the premiers didn’t agree on all topics — including the thorny issue of equalization payments — they appeared shoulder to shoulder to attack what they see as Ottawa’s habit of intervening in areas of provincial responsibility ranging from dental care to the cod fishery.

As the meetings wrapped up Wednesday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford took aim at the federal government’s billion-dollar national school food program, which promises to deliver meals to an additional 400,000 children per year.

He said his province’s program feeds more kids, for less.

“Something’s broken. They’re wasting taxpayers money,” he said during the premiers’ closing news conference.

“You know what happens? The premiers get pissed, simple as that. They just jump in there and they think they know better than what we know.”

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, the chair of this year’s conference, said Ottawa’s approach to the federation “risks pitting provinces and territories, really Canadians, against one another.”

In a letter sent to both Houston and Ford on Wednesday, Trudeau said the federal government is merely trying to “use federal funding to improve the lives of Canadians, not to infringe on provincial and territorial jurisdiction.”

“I would encourage provinces and territories who are reluctant to sign on to these initiatives or taking obstructionist positions to consider the impact that their decisions have on people, and to see us as a partner,” Trudeau wrote in his letter, obtained by CBC News.

The letter does not promise a meeting between Trudeau and the premiers, often referred to as a first ministers’ meeting — something many premiers requested this week.

Trudeau said Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc would be willing to meet with Ford and any other interested premiers.

“Reinvigorating cooperative federalism in Canada is a top priority for my government and I am pleased to hear the Council of the Federation feels similarly,” Trudeau wrote.

Premiers have requests for Ottawa 

While the premiers called on Ottawa to back off, they also didn’t leave the sunny port city without first issuing a list of requests.

They floated several areas where they want to see the federal government play a bigger role, including infrastructure spending, Arctic security and immigration supports.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said he’d be prepared to welcome more asylum seekers, especially francophones, but only if the province sees a boost in funding from the federal government.

“We have the housing needs, the health-care and social needs in Manitoba, and so we really do need the federal government, who has the fiscal resources to be able to move the needle here, to do so,” he said.

Kinew did wade into federal waters earlier today when he called on Ottawa to speed up defence investment.

After years of criticism from allies — most notably the United States — the Liberal government announced last week that it hopes to meet NATO’s military investment commitment of two per cent of alliance members’ gross domestic product by 2032.

Kinew urged Trudeau to reach that target in four years to alleviate concerns south of the border ahead of a presidential election that could return former president Donald Trump to the White House.

“If we’re not meeting our responsibility to our NATO allies, it is going to have an impact on [the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement] renewal. It is gonna have an impact on the relationship,” said the premier.

When asked if the premiers are asking for too much from the federal government on too many items, Houston said they’re asking the Liberals to refocus.

“We need to be focused on how and where that money is invested. We have a lot of ideas on that and we hope that they listen to us,” he said.