The recent Angus Reid poll had the BC NDP retaking first place with 40%, while the Liberals slipped to 31%. In a year full of dramatic resignations, highjackings, and referendums, popular support in BC politics has swung wildly in many directions. The NDP plummeted from 49% to 36% between November 2010 and March 2011 while the Liberals soared from 24% to 43% during the same period. The Liberals maintained a narrow lead from the March poll until now. Meanwhile support for the new BC Conservative Party has shifted equally radically as they moved from 10% to 4% to 18% in the last year. Studying the Angus Reid bar graph can make you lose your balance.

Really though, the award for making you dizzy has to go to Stephen Harper and the federal Conservatives. Goodness gracious where is one to start in deciphering what they have been up to? Two issues amongst the long list of possibilities jump to mind: the government’s attitude to the Canadian Wheat Board Federal Court ruling and the handling of the emergency in Attawapiskat.

Eliminating the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) as the sole means to market Canadian wheat and barley was part of the Conservative’s May election platform. They introduced Bill C-18 in October to put the change into effect. Similar to the crime bill, C-18 was subject to time limitations on MPs’ debate in Parliament and testimony from witnesses in committee. The Bill is now in the Senate and the government wants it fast tracked and passed by December 15th. The CWB Act states that no change to the process for marketing wheat and barley can take place without consultation with the Board and a vote by wheat and barley farmers. The Conservative government chose to skip the farmers’ vote because they claim their election victory means people approved of the changes to the Wheat Board. The CWB directors asked the Federal Court to decide whether the Minister of Agriculture could do this. December 7th Judge Douglas Campbell ruled that he couldn’t.

As we enter the ‘O.K. Corral’ phase of this issue, Stephen Harper has said the Conservatives are right, the Federal Court ruling was “disappointing” and the government will appeal it. However, he sees no reason not to proceed with Bill C-18 and to dismantle the Canadian Wheat Board. This is serious. The government’s attitude to the Federal Court ruling brings into question their respect for the rule of law, an essential underpinning of our system of government.

Judge Campbell’s ruling is interesting reading as is the affidavit filed by the Council of Canadians who were granted intervener status to speak to the ramifications to NAFTA and Canada’s food security if the Wheat Board is dismantled. Judge Campbell states: “The Applicants each request a Declaration that the Minister’s conduct is an affront to the rule of law. For the reasons that follow, I have no hesitation in granting this request.” He concluded his reasoning: “The Minister argues that the declarations should not be granted because their effect would be meaningless. In response, I say that there are two meaningful effects of granting the Breach Declarations. The first effect is that a lesson can be learned from what has just occurred. Section 47.1 [of the Wheat Board Act] speaks, it says: “engage in a consultative process and work together to find a solution.” The change process is threatening and should be approached with caution. Generally speaking, when advancing a significant change to an established management scheme, the failure to provide a meaningful opportunity for dissenting voices to be heard and accommodated forces resort to legal means to have them heard. In the present piece, simply pushing ahead without engaging such a process has resulted in the present Applications being launched. Had a meaningful consultative process been engaged to find a solution which meets the concerns of the majority, the present legal action might not have been necessary. … The second
and most important effect is that the Minister will be held accountable for his disregard for the rule of law.”

The inability to work together to find solutions aptly describes the government’s response to the crisis in Attawapiskat, a First Nations reserve in Northern Ontario struggling to cope with inadequate housing as winter arrives. Vancouver Island North MP John Duncan, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, has appeared rigid and robot-like as he states the government position. He and Stephen Harper have attempted to blame the victims for the problems and rather than send assistance their initial response was to send in a third party manager to control the band’s finances for the next six months at a cost, to the band, of $180,000.
Stephen Harper has agreed to meet with First Nations leaders January 24th to discuss the current crisis and other issues. Harper’s first meeting with First Nation leadership since becoming prime minister in 2005 is a good step but a bit late for the people in Attawapiskat. Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo said on CBC radio’s The House December 10th that “there might be 100 other First Nations like this.”

That would not be a surprise because in February Duncan’s department received a comprehensive report evaluating on-reserve support for housing from 1996 to 2010. The report states that from the launch of the on-reserve housing program in 1996: “there was a consensus between the government and First Nations that there was already a shortfall of adequate housing on–reserve. Despite ongoing construction of new housing on-reserve, the shortfall still exists and appears to be growing rather than diminishing. Overcrowding is also very much a reality on-reserve. Even though the proportion of houses which are “overcrowded” has been reduced by one third in the 13 year time frame, it is still six times higher than that of non-Aboriginal Canadians.”
On Vancouver Island, reaction to Duncan’s response to Attawapiskat came from the Kwicksutaineuk/Ah-kwa-mish First Nation based in Alert Bay. Chief Bob Chamberlin stated that the Aboriginal Affairs department had not kept its now 7 year old promises to replace moldy houses and build a new water treatment system in the Gilford Island part of the reserve. CBC news reported that Chamberlin, who is also a Vice President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, warned the Attawapiskat band to “not accept a single interim measure. Go right to the final solution, because if they accept interim measures, they're going to walk away from you once the media attention is gone, and Gilford is a perfect example.” The Facebook profile for Chamberlin’s First Nation concludes with this descriptor: “Its citizens have been operating under a boil water advisory for 9 years.”

Provincially, the Union of BC Indian Chiefs supported the Attawapiskat band council in a statement that said: “we fully support your position that the Government of Canada has engaged in a game of 'political deflection' at this time of community crisis." Nationally, the Assembly of First Nations backed a request by the Attawapiskat leadership and passed a resolution calling on the United Nations to investigate if the federal government is living up to its legal obligations to Canada’s First Nations.

The Conservatives have brought all this on themselves with their uncompromising attitude. Whether it is the Wheat Board or First Nations in crisis, it is hard to believe that they continue to go this far out on the ledge and refuse to admit to making a mistake. Are they so dizzy with power that they don’t see the hazard?

Jane E. Burton is a freelance writer who operates her company Memorable Lines from her home in Fanny Bay. For more information on the services offered please visit her website at www.memorablelines.com.