Read the Green Party of Ontario's 2011 election platform.

BGM Policy Resolutions Part 5: Intergovernmental Relations

Submitted by Dave Bagler on Tue, 07/06/2010 - 13:41

Thankfully we have reached the end of the policy resolutions. Today is the final part: Intergovernmental Relations, oh joy. Gauging by the discussion page for each motion of all the sections this one seems to have captivated the least interest. As of this writing only one resolutions has any discussion at all. However this section is still very important. Here is a link to Vision Green for reference. Also if you haven't gone through yet take a minute to look over the previous resolutions:

Governance	Policy
part one - Council Structure and Obligations	part one - Economy and Finance
part two - General Meeting and Party Procedure	part two - Foreign Affairs
part three - Shadow Cabinet and Policy Development	part three - Health and Environment
part four - Leadership	part four - Justice and Democracy
part five - Regional Organizing - EDAs	you're reading it

Resolution code	Resolution title and my thoughts on the resolution
G10-p15	Intergovernmental Relations Committee
G10-p15	This sets up a parliamentary committee tasked with monitoring intergovernmental relations. Iâ€™m not sure what this monitoring would entail nor what this committee would do about it but I think itâ€™s a good idea. If anything, it shows the provinces that the federal government is paying regular attention.
G10-p16	Framework Legislation for Intergovernmental Relations
G10-p16	This requires the HoC and the provincial legislatures to ratify major intergovernmental agreements. While I think that this might be a good idea I have concerns that this would just further politicize intergovernmental issues.
G10-p17	The Federal Spending Power
G10-p17	This resolution would give the provinces more power to opt-out of federal programs while still getting money for them. Iâ€™m against it.
G10-p18	Balancing the Canadian Federation
G10-p18	Talk to people about stuff. This resolution is rather meaningless in that it is very vague however the intention makes a lot of sense and getting representatives from all levels of government together for a chat would probably do our country a world of good. Iâ€™ll support it.
G10-p34	Grant Metropolitan Governments Constitutional Power
G10-p34	This resolution addresses the issue that more and more responsibilities are being downloaded to our cities without giving them the powers necessary to raise enough revenue to meet these responsibilities. However Iâ€™m not sure this is the way to go about it, Iâ€™ll be voting red.